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THE  Z.  SMITH  REYNOLDS  LIBRARY 


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T.J.  Taylor  Bstate 


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CHURCH 


By 


C.  J.  BLACK 


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1923 


THE  BAPTISM   OF  JESUS.   MASK    I:  S.JO. 


REV.  C.  J.  BLACK 


PREFACE 

History  is  our  natural  trend  of  mind.  We 
have  always  had  the  greatest  admiration  for  it, 
and  because  of  this  we  have  written  some  his- 
torical tracts,  we  have  gotten  out  the  history 
of  some  of  the  Baptist  churches  of  North  Caro- 
lina. We  wish  that  we  might  have  done  far  more 
than  we  have.  'Nothing  interests  us  more  than 
Baptist  history.  It  is  wonderful  when  you  get 
down  and  study  it  real  carefully.  When  we  get 
at  it  as  it  is,  we  must  begin  with  the  history  of 
the  individual  church.  The  Baptist  Historic 
Commission  of  this  State  is  urging  all  of  the 
churches  of  the  State  to  have  their  histories 
written.  Knowing  this  to  be  the  desire  of  the 
Commission,  we  decided  that  we  would  put  the 
story  of  Loray  Baptist  church  in  writing  before 
all  of  the  living  witnesses  were  gone.  This  we 
have  done  the  best  we  could.  The  work  is  not 
as  well  done  as  we  wish  that  it  might  have  been, 
but  since  the  church  records  are  in  very  bad 
shape,  many  of  the  records  cannot  be  under- 
stood, and  since  she  has  passed  through  some 
very  trying  times,  we  had  quite  a  difficult  task 
in  getting  what  data  we  have.  Many  of  the 
things  recorded  in  this  little  book  were'  gotten 
from  living  witnesses  such  as  W.  H.  Nolen,  S.  L. 
Smith,  L.  J.  Waldrop,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Waldrop,  and 
many  others  we  do  not  remember  just  here. 
We  have  done  all  that  we  could  to  get  the  facts 
in  every  case.  We  have  not  tried  to  write  a 
story,  but  we  have  tried  to  record  the  things  the 
church  has  done.  We  trust  that  every  mem- 
ber we  have  will  appreciate  what  we  have  done, 
and  that  it  may  call  forth  the  very  best  there  is 
within  us. 

Brethren,  remember  your  pastor  stands  ready 
to  help  you  make  the  history  of  Loray  Baptist 
church  far  greater  than  it  has  been. 
Affectionately, 
Your  Pastor, 

C.  J.  BLACK. 

Gastonia,  N.  C,  December  28,  1922. 


RULES  OF  ORDER 

I.  The  pastor,  or  in  his  absence  any  mem- 
ber appointed,  shall  act  as  Moderator  of  all 
business  meetings  of  the  church. 

II.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  Moderator  to 
keep  order;  and  in  case  the  Church  is  equally 
divided  on  any  question,  he  shall  give  the  cast- 
ing vote. 

III.  The  meeting  shall  be  opened  and  closed 
with  prayer. 

IV.  The  order  of  business  shall  be : 

1.  Reading     of    minutes     of    previous 

meeting. 

2.  The   reception   of   members   by   ex- 

perience or  letter. 

3.  Granting  letters  of  dismission. 

4.  Reports  of  committees. 

5.  Unfinished  business. 

6.  New  or  miscellaneous  business. 

V.  A  motion  before  the  church  must  be  dis- 
posed of  before  another  motion  can  be  enter- 
tained, unless  the  motion  be  to  amend,  post- 
pone, adjourn,  or  call  for  the  previous  question. 

VI.  The  Moderator  may  speak  on  any  ques- 
tion by  calling  on  any  brother  to  preside  in  his 
place. 

VII.  Every  member  who  speaks  shall  rise 
and  first  address  the  Moderator. 

VIII.  The  church  in  conference  shall  enter- 
tain no  proposition  for  discussion  which  has  not 
been  presented  on  motion  of  one  member  and 
seconded  by  another. 

IX.  On  any  point  of  order  a  member  may 
appeal  from  the  Moderator  to  the  church, 
whose  decision  shall  be  final. 

X.  All  questions,  except  that  on  reception 
of  members,  shall  be  decided  by  the  vote  of  a 
majority. 


ARTICLES  OF  FAITH 

I.  We  believe  that  the  Holy  Bible,  written 
by  men  divinely  inspired,  and  full  of  unmixed 
truth,  is  a  perfect  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

II.  We  believe  in  one  God — Father,  Son  and 
Holy  Cxhost. 

III.  We  believe  that  man,  one  holy,  fell  by 
voluntary  transgression  from  that  happy  state, 
and  is  now  utterly  void  of  holiness. 

IV.  We  believe  that  sinners  are  saved  by 
grace  alone. 

V.  We  believe  that  men  are  justified  by 
faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

VI.  We  believe  that  salvation  is  free  to  all 
who  will  accept  the  Gospel. 

VII.  W~e  believe  that,  except  a  man  be  re- 
newed by  the  Holy  Spirit,  he  is  not  qualified  or 
prepared  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth,  or 
to  enjoy  his  glory  hereafter. 

VIII.  We  believe  that  repentance  toward 
God  and  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  are  the 
duties  of  every  one  who  hears  the  Gospel. 

IX.  We  believe  that  election  is  the  eternal 
purpose  of  God,  by  which  he  graciously  re- 
generates, sanctifies  and  saves  sinners. 

X.  We  believe  that  sanctification,  begun  in 
regeneration,  and  ever  progressive,  is  the  pro- 
cess by  which  we  are  made  to  partake  of  God's 
holiness. 

XL  We  believe  in  the  preservation  of  the 
saints ;  that  they  are  kept  by  the  power  of  God 
through  faith  and  salvation. 

XII.  We  believe  that  God's  law  is  the  only, 
the  eternal  and  unchangeable,  rule  of  his 
church  and  moral  government. 

XII.  We  believe  that  a  church  of  Christ  is  a 
congregation  of  baptized  believers,  united  in 
the  faith  and  fellowship  of  the  Gospel,  observ- 
ing the  ordinances  and  obeying  the  laws  of 
Christ ;  and  that  its  officers  are  pastors  and 
deacons. 

XIV.  We  believe  that  Christian  baptism  is 
the  immersion  of  a  believer,  in  water,  by  a  prop- 
erly qualified  administrator,  into  the  name  of 
the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost. 

XV.  We  believe  that  only  such  as  have  been 
properly  baptized  and  received  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  a  regularly  organized  Baptist  Church, 


should  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

XVI.  We  believe  that  the  Lord's  day  or 
Christian  Sabbath  should  be  devoutly  observed 
and  sacredly  devoted  to  religious  services. 

XVII.  We  believe  that  civil  government  is 
of  divine  appointment,  and  that  the  governors 
of  States  and  nations  should  be  obeyed,  when 
the  laws  they  seek  to  enforce  are  not  in  con- 
flict with  the  Gospel. 

XVIII.  We  believe  in  the  future  resurrection 
of  the  dead. 

XIX.  We  believe  in  the  final  judgment ;  and 
that,  in  that  day,  the  righteous  and  wicked  will 
be  separated  forever. 

XX.  We  believe  that  the  righteous  will  be 
made  happy  forever  in  heaven,  and  the  wicked 
miserable  forever  in  hell. 


CHURCH  COVENANT 

Having  been  led,  as  we  believe,  by  the  Spirit 
of  God  to  receive  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  our 
Saviour,  and  on  the  profession  of  our  faith,  hav- 
ing been  baptized  into  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  do 
now  in  the  presence  of  God,  angels,  and  this  as- 
sembly most  solemnly  and  joyfully  enter  into 
covenant  with  one  another,  as  one  body  in 
Christ. 

We  engage  therefore,  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  walk  together  in  Christian  love ;  to 
strive  for  the  advancement  of  this  Church  in 
knowledge,  holiness,  and  comfort;  to  promote 
its  prosperity  and  spirituality ;  to  sustain  its 
worship,  ordinances,  discipline  and  doctrines; 
to  contribute  cheerfully  and  regularly  to  the 
support  of  the  ministry,  the  expenses  of  the 
Church,  and  the  relief  of  the  poor,  and  the 
spread  of  the  Gospel  through  all  nations. 

We  also  engage  to  maintain  family  and  secret 
devotions ;  to  religiously  educate  our  children ; 
to  seek  the  salvation  of  our  kindred  and  ac- 
quaintances ;  to  walk  circumspectly  in  the 
world ;  to  be  just  in  our  dealings,  faithful  in  our 
engagements,  and  exemplary  in  our  deport- 
ment; to  avoid  all  tattling,  back  biting  and  ex- 
cessive anger;  to  abstain  from  the  sale  and  use 
of  intoxicating  drinks  as  a  beverage,  and  to  be 
zealous  in  our  effort  to  advance  the  kingdom 
of  our  Saviour. 

We  further  engage  to  watch  over  one  an- 
other in  brotherly  love  ;  to  remember  each  other 
in  prayer ;  to  aid  each  other  in  sickness  and 
distress ;  to  cultivate  Christian  sympathy  in  feel- 
ing and  courtesy  of  speech ;  to  be  slow  to  take 
offence,  but  always  ready  for  reconciliation, 
and  mindful  of  the  rules  of  our  Saviour  to  se- 
cure it  without  delay. 

We  moreover  engage  that  when  we  remove 
from  this  place,  we  will  as  soon  as  possible 
unite  with  some  other  church,  where  we  can 
carry  out  the  spirit  of  this  covenant  and  the 
principles  of  God's  word. 

10 


LORAY  BAPTIST  CHURCH 


11 


THE  FIRST  PREACHING  IN 
WEST  GASTONIA 

In  beginning  to  write  the  history  of  the  Lo- 
ray Baptist  Church  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  no- 
tice why  the  Baptists  thought  it  wise  to  build 
another  church  in  Gastonia  since  there  were 
two  there  already.  It  is  so  often  the  case  that 
churches  are  built  to  satisfy  the  fancy  of  some 
deluded  mind,  either  a  preacher's  or  some  one 
else,  but  it  was  not  so  in  the  case  of  Loray  Bap- 
tist Church.  West  Gastonia  had  taken  on  new 
life.  Several  mills  had  been  built  and  others 
were  under  way  of  construction,  and  every  evi- 
dence showed  that  this  end  of  the  city  was  des- 
tined to  become  the  most  populous  part  of  Gas- 
tonia. Business  houses  were  going  up  and  fi- 
nancial interests  were  being  developed  so  much 
that  something  had  to  be  done  to  care  for  this 
end  of  the  city  from  the  Baptist  point  of  view. 
Baptists  have  always  been  missionary  to  the 
core,  and  when  things  demanded  that  they  take 
hold  of  a  situation  they  usually  have  a  man  to 
look  after  the  job  for  them.  The  man  who 
came  to  the  rescue  of  the  situation  this  time  was 
Rev.  J.  A.  Hoyle.  Hoyle  was  one  of  the  great- 
est missionaries  we  have  ever  had  in  our  state. 
He  was  not  an  educated  man,  but  could  preach 
well,  and  his  business  ability  was  such  that  he 
could  finance  the  building  of  a  church  without 
very  much  difficulty.  He  held  his  services  in 
the  Arlington  school  house.  We  do  not  know 
just  how  long  he  preached  here,  but  it  must 
have  been  a  year  or  more  since  the  State  Mis- 
sion Board  helped  in  this  work.  They  did  not 
take  hold  of  a  work  until  they  were  sure  that  it 
would  be  a  paying  proposition.  Brother  Hoylo 
preached  here  until  things  were  ripe  for  the  or- 
ganization. He  must  have  held  several  meet- 
ings here,  and  he  is  likely  to  have  baotized  sev- 
eral before  the  church  was  organized.  At  any 
rate,  he  organized  the  forces  sufficiently  to  take 
ground  for  the  church.  Hoyle  was  a  very  de- 
termined man.  Sometimes  he  was  rather  am- 
bitious, but  for  the  most  part  he  was  a  great 
man.  He  meant  much  to  the  Baptists  in  this 
section,  and  the  church  at  Loray  and  East  Gas- 
tonia are  some  of  the  monuments  of  his  indefa- 
tigable labors. 

12 


ORGANIZATION  OF  LORAY 
BAPTIST  CHURCH 

After  Rev.  J.  A.  Hoyle  had  preached  at  the 
Arlington  Mill  school  house  for  some  time,  it 
became  necessary  for  the  Baptists  living  in  the 
west  end  of  the  city  to  organize  themselves  into 
a  church.  Accordingly  they  met  June  4,  1905, 
for  this  purpose.  The  introductory  sermon  was 
preached  by  Rev.  W.  H.  Reddish,  pastor  of  the 
Fi:s!-  Baptist  Church  of  Gastonia,  and  who 
sometime  since  has  passed  to  his  reward.  His 
text  was  Matt,  28:19-20.  He  preached  a  very 
instructive  and  stirring  sermon.  After  this  ser- 
mon, a  nresbytery  composed  of  Rev.  J.  A. 
Hoyle,  W.  H.  Reddish,  R.  G.  Kendrick,  S.  F. 
Conrad.  W.  J.  Clifford,  J.  D.  Moore,  L.  L.  Jen- 
kins, W.  F.  Marshall,  J.  S.  Torrence  and  Jonas 
Jenkins,  deacons  from  the  First  Baptist  Church, 
with  J.  E.  C.  Ford.  N.  A.  Jenkins,  and  W.  E. 
Beaty  from  Sandy  Plains,  was  organized  as  fol- 
lows:  W.  H.  Reddish,  Chairman,  S.  F.  Conrad, 
Clerk.  The  door  of  the  church  was  opened  and 
twenty-six  with  letters  from  regular  Baptist 
Churches  presented  themselves.  We  are  not 
sure  that  we  have  all  of  these  names  correct, 
but  we  have  done  the  best  we  could  to  gather 
them.  We  cannot  find  them  on  any  church 
book,  so  we  have  had  to  gather  them  from  dif- 
ferent sources.  We  have  then  as  follows :  Julia 
Harry,  Harriet  Settlemyer,  Ida  Pearson,  Su- 
san Scis.r.,  Lou  Chaney,  Carria  E.  Hoyle,  Anna 
Grady,  Nevada  Nolen,  M.  F.  Mauney,  Martha 
Fisher,  Rosa  Fisher,  Mrs.  Sam  Smith,  Mrs.  J.  C. 
Smith,  Mrs.  M.  L.  McKensie,  S.  L.  Smith,  J.  C. 
Smith,  W.  H.  Nolen,  J.  A.  Hoyle,  James  Seism, 
E.  C.  Fisher,  Elam  Settlemyer,  M.  C.  Mauney, 
R.  L.  Chaney,  J.  S.  Hawkins,  L.  A.  Reynolds, 
Mrs.  L.  A.  Reynolds. 

After  the  reading  of  the  above  letters,  the 
Articles  of  Faith  and  the  Church  Covenant  were 
read  and  adopted.  Brother  J.  D.  Moore  pro- 
posed to  give  the  church  a  building  lot  on  the 
corner  of  Webb  Street  and  Franklin  Avenue. 
The  church  accepted  the  lot  and  gave  Brother 
Moore  the  privilege  of  naming  the  new  church. 
He  named  it  West  Franklin  Avenue  Baptist 
Church.  The  church  accepted  his  suggestion 
and  adopted  the  name.  If  you  wish  to  see  why 
13 


the  name  was  changed,  please  see  later  on  in 
this  history.  The  first  name  was  a  good  one, 
and  we  expect  it  would  have  been  better  for  it 
to  have  remained  that  since  things  change  so 
much.  The  brethren  thought  it  best  to  change 
it  to  the  name  of  the  Loray  Mill  since  it  had 
done  so  ir  uch  for  the  church.  It  is  perfectly 
all  right  for  it  to  be  what  it  is.  The  church  has 
had  no  truer  friend  than  the  Loray  Mill.  This 
mill  has  stood  by  the  church  in  all  of  its  under- 
takings. We  will  not  say  more  about  the  chang- 
ing of  the  name,  or  what  the  Loray  Mill  has 
made  the  church  able  to  do.  This  will  be  dis- 
cussed in  another  chapter. 

After  the  church  was  named,  the  moderator 
declared  the  new  organization  to  be  a  regularly 
organized  Baptist  church,  and  as  it  was  the 
custom,  the  presbytery  extended  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship  to  the  members  of  this  new  body. 
The  charge  was  then  delivered  by  Revs.  J.  A. 
Hoyle  and  R.  G.  Kendrick.  The  brethren  then 
took  up  a  collection  for  State  Missions  which 
amounted  to  five  dollars  and  thirty  cents.  This 
was  most  splendid  beginning  for  the  new  body. 
We  are  glad  to  say  that  it  has  ever  remained 
missionary.  All  real  Baptist  Churches  are  mis- 
sionary. A  church  cannot  be  Baptist  without 
being  missionary.  The  first  Baptist  church  was 
organized  out  of  twelve  missionaries,  and  every 
church  from  that  time  until  now  that  has  been 
organized  after  the  New  Testament  model  has 
been  missionary.  Missions  lie  at  the  base  of  a 
New  Testament  church. 


14 


DIFFERENT  MEETING  PLACES 

The  most  difficult  thing  for  a  Baptist  church 
to  do  is  to  locate  a  good  meeting  place.  Many 
things  enter  into  this  matter  which  make  it  very 
difficult.  Sometimes  opposition  is  so  severe  that 
it  cannot  be  determined  what  is  best  to  do. 
Baptists  have  always  had  a  hard  ti:r.e  of  it. 
Many  a  time  they  have  been  driven  out  because 
they  had  not  been  careful  enough  about  having 
deeds  recorded  and  surveys  made  as  they 
should  have  been.  We  know  of  some  places  in 
North  Carolina  where  such  has  been  the  case. 
In  one  instance  (Hopewell),  the  house  was  tak- 
en and  converted  into  a  barn  ;  in  another  (Piney 
Woods)  it  was  converted  into  a  church  of  an- 
other denomination.  The  old  grave  yard  is  still 
to  be  seen.  The  original  house  stood  for  years, 
but  was  finally  torn  down.  Loray  had  many 
difficulties  in  locating  a  permanent  meeting 
place.  The  first  meeting  place  was  a  small 
school  house  at  the  Arlington  Mill.  Services 
were  held  here  until  the  church  was  organized, 
but  when  the  organization  was  completed,  they 
did  not  hold  services  there  much  longer.  We 
do  not  know  why,  but  there  must  have  been 
some  opposition ;  possibly  the  school  began  and 
crowded  them  out.  The  second  meeting  place 
was  a  small  school  house,  or  a  house  for  public 
meetings  in  the  Loray  section  to  the  rear  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  This  was  used  by  other 
deno.r inations.  This  made  it  very  difficult  for 
the  Baptists.  The  Lord  never  intended  that  two 
families  should  live  in  the  same  house,  and  we 
are  almost  sure  that  he  never  intended  that 
Baptists  should  worship  in  houses  used  by  other 
people.  This  practice  has  never  brought  any- 
thing but  evil  results.  We  have  observed  this 
carefully  at  several  places  where  the  mill  com- 
panies have  tried  to  harmonize  the  denomina- 
tions. It  just  will  not  work  for  Baptists.  It 
did  not  work  at  Loray.  When  the  Baptists 
wanted  a  meeting,  the  other  folks  wanted  it, 
too.  The  Baptists  were  shut  out,  and  because 
of  this,  they  had  to  hunt  another  meeting  place. 
This  was  very  difficult  for  them  to  do  at  this 
time.  They  had  no  public  hall  available,  so 
they  had  to  preach  in  their  homes.  We  do  not 
know  how  many  homes  they  held  services  in, 
15 


but  we  find  two  named.  One  was  Brother  L.  A. 
Reynolds.  Some  important  matters  were  trans- 
acted in  the  meeting*  held  in  the  horr.e  of 
Brother  Reynolds.  One  was  the  changing:  of 
the.  name  of  the  church  from  West  Franklin 
Avenue  Baptist  Church  to  that  of  Loray  Bap- 
tist Church.  The  second  meeting  place  was  in 
the  home  of  Brother  W.  H.  Nolen.  He  lived 
near  the  church  in  the  house  now  occupied  by 
Mr.  W.  P.  Cargill.  A  great  meeting  was  held 
in  Brother  Nolen's  home.  Two  of  our  mosf 
useful  members,  and  we  are  glad  to  say,  two  of 
our  best  deacons  were  converted  during  this 
meeting  and  joined  the  church.  We  refer  to 
L.  J.  Waldrop  and  W.  D.  Davis.  These  are 
men  you  can  depend  on. 

The  fourth  meeting  place  was  Bradley  Hall 
We  find  that  on  August  17,  1906,  at  a  meeting 
held  in  the  home  of  Brother  L.  A.  Reynolds, 
the  church  accepted  Mr.  Mack  Bradley's 
proposition  to  rent  the  house  for  six  months  and 
longer  if  necessary.  They  rented  the  Bradley 
Hall  for  six  dollars  per  month  and  appointed 
the  following  committee  to  arrange  the  seats : 
D.  A.  Mauney,  L.  A.  Reynolds,  J.  C.  Smith.,  and 
L.  J.  Waldrop.  This  committee  acted  at  once 
and  arranged  seats.  A  meeting  of  days  was 
begun  in  this  hall  the  second  Sunday  in  Septem- 
ber, 1906.  The  pastor,  Rev.  J.  A.  Hoyle,  was 
assisted  by  Rev.  C.  F.  Felmet.  The  meeting 
lasted  two  weeks.  Good  interest  was  mani- 
fested, but  there  were  not  many  conversions. 
Three  were  received  for  baptism — James  Kes- 
ter,  Maggie  Arrowood  and  a  Massagee.  Sev- 
eral joined  by  letter. 

The  church  used  Bradley  Hall  for  ten  months. 
During  this  time,  they  were  building  a  house  on 
a  near-by  lot.  The  brethren  did  all  they  could 
to  get  the  house  ready  for  service,  so  at  the  end 
of  ten  months  in  the  Bradley  Hall,  they  were 
ready  to  go  into  the  new  house  which  was  not 
completed  but  was  in  shape  for  them  to  hold 
services  in.  This  was  the  greatest  victory  ever 
achieved  by  the  church,  and  it  gave  much  impe- 
tus to  the  work. 

NOTE. — While  the  church  had  no  regular 
meeting  place,  the  pastor  held  services  a  few 
times  in  the  White  Church  and  Wesleyan  Meth- 
odist also. 

16 


These    three    men    are    our    oldest    members,    save    one, 
E.    C.    Torrence. 


S.   L.    SMITH 


D.   W.    BLANTON 


S.  L.  Smith  and  W.  H.  Nolen  are  two  of  the  original 
building  committee  who  made  the  first  building  possible. 
They  are  among  our  most  earnest  workers  even  if  they 
are   growing   old   in   years. 

17 


THE  FINAL  LOCATION  OF  THE 
CHURCH 

The  location  decided  upon  originally  was  not 
the  one  where  the  building  is  now  situated,  but 
a  lot  on  the  corner  of  Webb  Street  and  Franklin 
Avenue.  This  lot  was  donated  by  the  late  J.  D. 
Moore,  but  he  died  before  the  deed  was  deliv- 
ered and  the  relatives  for  some  reason  never 
gave  it  over.  This  put  the  church  to  much  in- 
convenience, but  the  Loray  Mills  offered  the  lot 
where  the  building  now  stands  and  the  church 
gladly  accepted  it.  The  Loray  Mills  Company 
has  always  been  a  great  friend  to  Loray  Baptist 
Church.  It  has  made  several  important  under- 
takings possible. 

As  soon  as  the  lot  was  decided  upon  the 
church  began  to  get  ready  to  build.  The  first 
thing  they  did  was  to  appoint  a  building  com- 
mittee. The  committee  was  composed  of  Sam- 
uel L.  Smith,  Stephen  Waldrop,  W.  H.  Nolen, 
and  Dave  Mauney.  These  were  all  intensely 
interested  in  the  work,  and  their  being  ap- 
pointed meant  the  construction  of  the  house. 
The  plan  was  gotten  up  by  Brother  Hoyle  and 
the  construction  of  the  house  was  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Caleb  Crowder,  who  was  a  member  of 
the  church  at  that  time.  The  job  was  not  con- 
tracted, but  he  was  hired  to  oversee  the  build- 
ing of  it. 

The  next  question  to  arise  was  where  the 
money  was  to  be  had  from.  The  church  was 
poor  and  labor  was  so  cheap  that  it  was  a  diffi- 
cult proposition,  indeed,  but  God  always  pro- 
vides. The  first  gift  they  received  was  one 
thousand  dollars,  from  the  Loray  Mill  Com- 
pany. This  put  them  on  their  feet.  Work  was 
begun  on  the  building  at  once.  The  foundation 
was  laid,  the  walls  were  raised,  and  the  roof 
was  soon  on.  An  enemy  to  the  cause  came  by 
one  day  and  said,  "Those  Baptists  have  begun 
more  than  they  can  finish."  They  have  never 
done  such  in  their  history.  The  house  was  fin- 
ished because  the  people  had  a  mind  to  work. 
Rev.  Hoyle  had  the  money  ready  for  every  pay 
day  as  soon  as  they  came. 

THE  FIRST  ADDITION 

It  was  soon  realized  that  the  original  house 
18 


was  too  small  to  accommodate  the  fast  growing 
congregation  and  the  Sunday  School,  so  plans 
were  laid  for  the  enlargement  of  the  house. 
The  plan  was  to  build  rooms  to  the  front  of  the 
building.  This  they  did  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,- 
800.00.  The  money  was  soon  raised  and  the 
debt  was  paid.  This  addition  helped  the  work 
very  much,  and  is  still  quite  a  convenience.  It 
was  the  rooms  immediately  in  front  of  the  au- 
ditorium, but  did  not  include  the  toilets.  They 
were  added  later.  Rev.  Stoudenmire  was  pas- 
tor when  this  was  done.  The  second  addition 
was  built  to  the  West  end  of  the  church  along 
the  Southern  switch  track.  This  was  to  ir.ake 
room  for  the  Sunday  School  work.  This  sec- 
ond improvement  added  much  to  the  church.  It 
now  had  considerable  room  for  the  Sunday 
School  work.  We  are  glad  to  say  that  Loray 
Baptist  Church  has  always  taken  great  interest 
in  this  line  of  work,  and  because  of  this  it  has 
had  to  enlarge  the  house  again  and  again. 

The  third  addition  was  on  the  auditorium. 
At  first  the  building  had  a  level  floor.  But  as 
the  church  increased,  it  became  necessary  for  it 
to  have  an  elevated  floor,  so  this  too  was  under- 
taken and  was  soon  a  reality. 

The  last  two  additions  were  built  by  Rev. 
G.  P.  Abernathy.  The  fourth  addition  was  the 
construction  of  a  large  Sunday  School  room  at 
the  rear  of  the  church.  This  was  built  to  ac- 
commodate the  Berean  Class.  The  class  be- 
came so  iarge  that  there  was  no  room  large 
enough  to  hold  it.  The  only  thing  that  could 
be  done  was  to  construct  a  room  large  enough 
for  it.  The  boys  contributed  largely  toward  it 
and  the  Loray  Mill  Company  furnished  the  ma- 
terial. The  room  was  erected  in  three  weeks 
and  the  class  was  housed  in  it,  but  this  soon  be- 
came too  small  for  the  large  number  of  boys 
who  gather  there  every  Sunday,  so  another 
room  had  to  be  built.  Mr.  F.  L.  Jenckes  gave 
the  boys  $T?500.00.  Mr.  Hall  and  Mr.  Hayes 
gave  much  material.  This  enabled  the  boys  to 
erect  a  room  40x50  at  the  rear  of  the  church. 
This  will  hold  four  hundred  and  fifty  men.  The 
class  now  has  more  than  five  hundred  men  in  it, 
and  is  growing  from  time  to  time. 

The  last  addition  was  the  gallery.  The  con- 
gregation became  so  large  that  more  room  had 
19 


to  be  made.  The  only  thing  we  could  do  was 
to  build  a  gallery.  This  we  did  and  seated  it 
with  opera  chairs.  This  makes  it  possible  for 
us  to  accommodate  a  very  large  congregation. 
We  hope  that  the  next  improvement  we  make 
will  be  to  erect  an  up-to-date  church  with  all 
conveniences  to  take  care  of  the  situation. 


20 


THE  PASTORS  WHO  HAVE 
SERVED  LORAY 

Loray  has  not  had  but  six  men  to  serve  her 
as  pastor.  Five  of  these  are  living  and  the 
other  one  has  gone  to  his  final  reward.  The 
one  we  refer  to  here  is  Brother  J.  A.  Hoyle,  the 
man  who  worked  so  hard  to  found  the  church. 
He  died  some  months  ago.  His  widow  and 
children  are  still  living  at  Maiden,  N.  C.  All 
of  the  others  are  still  living.  They  are  A.  T. 
Stoudenmire,  Union,  S.  C  ;  J.  D.  Moose,  North 
Charlotte,  N.  C. ;  C.  M.  Robinson,  Erhardt,  S. 
C ;  G.  P.  Abernathey,  Morganton,  N.  C. ;  and 
the  present  pastor.  All  of  these  men  did  good 
work  in  many  ways,  and  have  left  their  impress 
upon  the  community  in  some  way.  We  have 
not  a  word  of  criticism  to  make  of  any  of  the 
pastorates.  True,  these  were  all  men,  they 
were  not  angels,  and  because  they  were  men, 
they  made  mistakes.  We  can  see  their  mis- 
takes very  readily  now,  but  at  the  time,  they 
could  not  be  seen  so  well.  We  are  glad  that 
these  men  are  all  doing  good  work  now,  and 
that  they  all  have  splendid  churches  to  serve. 
Loray  rejoices  in  their  achievements.  May 
they  all  live  long  and  do  all  that  they  can  for 
the  Master. 

ELDER  J.  A.  HOYLE 

Elder  J.  A.  Hoyle  was  the  man  who  made 
Loray  a  reality.  He  did  the  first  preaching  at 
the  Arlington  school  house  some  time  before  the 
church  was  organized.  He  must  have 
preached  there  for  sometime  before  the  church 
idea  was  sprung  as  he  was  working  under  the 
State  Board  when  it  was  organized.  He  was 
a  great  pioneer  preacher.  His  faith  was  won- 
derful. He  was  called  to  be  the  first  pastor 
and  served  from  the  orgainzation  in  June  1905 
until  some  time  during  1908.  He  did  not  serve 
the  year  out  because  there  was  some  dissatis- 
fation.  He  quitely  gave  away  and  Brother  J. 
D.  Moose  was  called  to  take  his  place.  But 
what  ever  may  have  been  the  misunderstand- 
ing, all  will  have  to  say  that  he  did  a  great 
work.  Some  men  can  build  better  than  they 
can  maintain.  This  seems  to  have  been  the 
case  with  Brother  Hoyle.  He  was  one  of  the 
21 


ELDER  J.  A.  HOYLE 


greatest  church  builders  in  North  Carolina,  but 
he  could  not  hold  the  churches  well  after  he 
had  gotten  them  upon  their  feet.  When  ho 
built  Loray,  he  had  built  a  church  for  every 
year  of  his  ministry.       This  was  remarkable. 

The  present  pastor  held  him  in  the  very 
highest  esteem.  When  just  a  boy,  he  was  bap- 
tized by  Brother  Hoyle.  We  shall  never  forget 
his  wonderful  labors  in  the  community  where  he 
was  raised.  The  following  lines  written  by  a 
friend  when  Brother  Hoyle  died  give  the  in for- 
mation we  need  here.  We  give  space  to  these 
lines  because  he  is  the  only  pastor  of  Loray  who 
has  passed  to  the  great  beyond. 

Brother  Hoyle  was  born  in  Burke  County,  N. 
C.  on  the  21st  of  March,  1850,  and  died  October 
3rd.  1918,  He  was  nearly  to  the  sixty- ninth 
mile  post  in  life. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  married  toMiss 
Ellen  Crowder  and  to  this  Union  were  born 
s?ven  children.  He  was  Married  the  second 
time  to  Miss  Carrie  Beaty,  who  with  four  chil- 
dren survive. 

He  was  converted  under  the  preaching  of 
Brother  A.  C.  Ervin  in  August,  1880,  and  bap- 
tized into  the  fellowship  of  Mt.  Zion  Church. 
He  was  licensed  in  March,  1881,  and  was  or- 
dained to  the  full  work  June  16th  of  the  next 
year,  bv  Brethren  T.  Dixon,  A.  L.  Stough  and 
G.  M.  Webb. 

When  a  young  man  in  the  minis' ;ry  N~  did 
nuch  preaching  at  mission  points  and  built  up 
the  cause  in  destitute  places.  He  had  been 
greatly  blessed  as  the  introducer  of  Baptist  doc- 
trines into  communities,  the  organization  of 
churches  and  the  building  of  good  houses.  He 
has  built  more  church  houses  and  baptized 
more  members  than  any  minister  that  has 
labored  in  our  bounds.  He  has  served 
churches  in  Catawba,  Lincoln,  Cleveland, 
Burke,  Gaston,  and  many  other  adjoining  coun- 
ties. 

Brother  Hoyle  did  great  work  in  his  early 
ministry  as  a  pioneer  preacher.  He  did  much 
of  his  preaching  under  arbors,  in  school  houses, 
and  dwelling  houses.  For  this  mission  work 
he  received  very  little  compensation.  He  pre- 
pared the  way  for  many  churches  that  are  now 
strong  organizations  and  are  now  doing  much 
23 


for  the  cause  of  Christ.  Though  many  of  these 
church  houses  have  given  way  to  nicer  and  bet- 
ter equipped  buildings,  yet  it  should  not  be  for- 
gotten that  it  was  through  his  untiring  efforts 
and  sacrifice  that  these  churches  had  their 
origin.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  Brother  Hoyle 
will  never  get  the  honor  due  him,  and  our 
churches  will  never  fully  realize  what  he  has 
done  for  us,  in  preparing  the  way,  especially  in 
the  South  Fork  Association. 

Brother  Hoyle  was  a  man  that  was  firm  in 
what  he  believed  to  be  right.  He  was  a  man 
that  spoke  out  his  convictions  and  stood  for  the 
same.  He  was  a  good  citizen,  a  faithful 
preacher  of  the  gospel,  and  an  affectionate  hus- 
band and  father. 

He  leaves  to  mourn  his  loss  a  wife  and  ten 
children  and  a  number  of  friends. 

"Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord 
from  henceforth :  Yea,  sayeth  the  Spirit,  that 
thev  may  rest  from  their  labors :  and  works  do 
follow  them."    Rev.  14  :13 

J.  D.  MOOSE 

November  1,  1908-January,  1910. 

Brother  J.  D.  Moose  served  Loray  as  pastor 
two  terms.  We  cannot  say  very  much  about 
the  second  term,  as  the  minutes  are  so  very 
poor.  If  we  had  to  depend  on  the  minutes  of 
the  church  as  they  appear  in  the  church  re- 
cords we  could  not  tell  whether  there  had  been 
any  church  for  a  part  of  the  time  or  not. 
Some  of  the  conferences  are  not  mentioned  at 
all.  At  least  four  years  of  the  records  have 
been  destroyed.  We  wish  so  much  that  this 
had  not  been  done.  Our  minutes  are  our  his- 
tory. Poor  church  clerks  have  given  us  no  lit- 
tle trouble  and  Loray  seems  to  have  had  her 
share  of  them.  We  are  not  criticising,  but 
when  one  undertakes  a  task  like  we  have  in 
writing  this  little  book,  it  is  so  disappointing 
to  try  to  do  a  thing  and  you  cannot  because  you 
cannot  get  the  material  you  must  have  to  give 
the  facts  as  they  took  place.  The  following 
things  seem  to  have  taken  place  during  Brother 
Moose's  pastorate  :  The  Duplex  Envelope  Sys- 
tem was  introduced  and  made  to  work.  Sev- 
eral new  deacons  were  ordained,  namely,  W.  P. 
Glover,  E.  C.  Roberts,  and  J.  A.  Alexander. 
24 


J.  D.  MOOSE 


'Jo 


Rev.  J.  L.  Vipperman  preached  the  ordination 
sermon  and  Rev.  J.  J.  Beach  gave  the  charge 
when  these  brethern  were  ordained. 

When  this  pastorate  began  the  church  had 
sixty  members,  and  when  it  closed  it  had  three 
hundred  and  thirty  three  members.  Moose 
baptized  one  hundred  and  forty-four  members 
while  he  was  pastor  the  first  time.  He  held 
two  meetings  himself.  These  were  among  the 
best  meetings  the  church  has  had.  When  he 
took  charge  the  church  owed  $1500,00,  when 
he  closed  it  owed  $450.00.  This  was  paid  dur- 
ing the  pastorate  of  Rev.  C.  M.  Robinson. 

Brother  Moose  is  still  remembered  here,  and 
is  loved  as  one  of  the  pastors  of  this  church. 
He  is  now  pastor  at  North  Charlotte  where  he 
has  done  the  best  work  of  his  life.  May  he 
still  keep  moving  forward  with  the  great  work 
of  the  Master. 

REV.  C.  M.  ROBINSON. 

The  third  pastor  of  Loray  church  was  Rev. 
C.  M.  Robinson.  He  succeeded  Rev.  J.  D. 
Moose.  He  began  his  pastorate  the  first  of 
April,  1910,  and  served  until  April,  1912. 
During  this  pastorate  many  things  were  accom- 
plished which  meant  much  to  the  cause  at 
Lorav.  The  first  thing  that  was  worth  v/hile 
was  the  payment  of  all  of  the  indebtedness  of 
the  church.  The  church  had  to  keep  building 
and  equipping  all  the  time  so  far  as  to  care  for 
the  growing  work,  and  to  do  Ois  it  had  to  go 
in  debt  again  and  again.  Brother  Robinson 
raised  all  of  the  indebtedness  that  was  against 
the  church  while  he  was  there. 

He  had  a  hot  air  system  for  heating  the 
church  put  in.  This  cost  considerable,  but  the 
church  paid  for  it  without  very  much  trouble. 
The  furnace  is  still  in  use,  but  will  soon  have  to 
be  discarded  and  something  larger  put  in  so  as 
to  accommodate  the  folks.  The  furnace  is  en- 
tirely too  small,  though  it  has  served  the  pur- 
pose well. 

The  third  thing  that  was  done  during  this 
pastorate  was  the  painting  of  the  church.  We 
do  not  know  whether  it  had  been  painted  be- 
fore or  not,  but  it  was  painted  during  the  pas- 
torate of  Rev.  C.  M.  Robinson. 
26 


C.   M.  ROBINSON 


27 


The  fourth  thing  they  did  was  to  carpet  the 
floor  and  put  in  a  nice  pulpit  set.  This  was 
worth  while.  Too  many  of  our  preachers  do 
not  think  anything  about  carpeting  the  floors, 
or  anything  of  this  kind. 

Brother  Robinson  is  now  pastor  of  Erhardt 
Baptist  church  in  South  Carolina.  We  are 
glad  that  he  is  still  doing  a  noble  work  for  the 
Master. 

A„T.  STOUDENMIRE. 

Rev.  A.  T.  Stouden.nire  was  the  fourth  pas- 
tor of  Loray  Baptist  church.  He  began  his 
pastorate  March  15,  1914,  and  remained  for 
fifteen  and  one  half  months.  The  church  did 
remarkably  well  during  his  pastorate.  Many 
things  were  done  for  the  cause  that  are  still 
being  felt.  Stoudenmire  worked  out  a  splen- 
did financial  system  that  many  of  the  deacons 
speak  of  yet.  Some  of  them  are  anxious  to 
re-establish  it.  He  had  the  mill  sections  so 
organized  that  they  gave  systematically.  A 
captain  was  appointed  over  these  different  sec- 
tions and  they  were  worked  in  such  a  way  that 
there  was  some  little  rivalry,  just  enough  to 
keep  the  work  interesting.  The  new  plan  en- 
abled the  church  to  carry  on  its  finances  with- 
out any  trouble.  Report  blanks  were  kept  for 
the  group  captains,  and  reports  were  made 
monthly.  The  Sunday  School  took  on  ncvs  life 
during  Stouden.i: ire's  pastorate.  New  rooms 
had  to  be  built.  The  addition  cost  about  eight- 
teen  hundred  dollars.  The  debt  was  paid  dur- 
ing his  stay. 

The  Y.  W.  C.  A.  was  organized  while  Stoud- 
enmire was  here.  This  is  one  of  the  best  or- 
ganizations we  have,  It  is  very  much  alive 
yet,  but  does  not  have  as  :r.  any  members  as  it 
ought  to  have.  We  are  glad  to  say  that  nearly 
all  of  them  are  on  the  tithing  list. 

Rev.  A.  T.  Stoudenmire  is  still  living.  He 
is  pastor  at  Union,  S.  C.  He  has  been  there 
for  some  years.  We  hope  how  long  he  may 
live  to  bless  the  Lord's  work. 

G.  P.  ABERNATHEY. 

Brother  G.  P.  Abernathey  began  his  pastor- 
ate with  Loray  the  first  of  Septmber,  1915.  He 
was  called  July  18,  1915,  but  did  not  begin  his 

28 


A.   T.   STOUDENMIRE 


29 


pastorate  until  the  first  of  the  following  Sep- 
tember. He  served  until  September  1920 
when  he  resigned  to  accept  the  pastorate  of 
East  Morganton  Baptist  church  where  he  is  still 
serving  very  acceptably. 

Several  notable  and  essential  things  were 
done  during  his  pastorate.  The  church  was 
enlarged  for  Sunday  school  work.  Several 
rooms  were  built,  the  floor  was  elevated,  the 
financial  system  was  reorganized,  and  one  of 
the  best  things  of  all  was  done.  It  was  that  of 
building  a  nice  six  room  parsonage.  This  cost 
about  five  thousand  dollars.  The  building 
stands  immediatly  in  front  of  the  church  at 
1108  West  Franklin  Avenue.  Every  church 
whether  in  the  country  or  in  the  city  ought  to 
have  a  good  parsonage.  It  is  impossible  to 
have  the  pastors  that  churches  need  without 
having  a  good  p.arsonage.  Preachers  connot 
own  their  own  homes  and  make  it  as  they 
should.  They  have  too  make  too  many  sacri- 
fices to  do  what  the  Lord  calls  them  to  do,  so  the 
best  thing  to  do  is  to  have  a  good  parsonage  for 
all  of  the  churches.  Loray  has  a  magnificent 
one. 

The  membership  was  greatly  increased  dur- 
ing this  pastorate.  The  membership  was 
nearly  doubled  during  this  pastorate.  Rev. 
J.  W.  Hickerson  held  a  great  meeting  during 
this  pastorate  and  more  than  one  hundred  were 
added  to  the  church,  or  about  a  hundred  at 
least.  This  meeting  did  not  do  the  good  that 
it  ought  to  have'  done  because  it  came  just  as 
the  tear-up  from  The  World  War  came.  This 
like  to  have  put  all  of  our  churches  out  of  com- 
mission, but  many  of  the  members  who  joined 
during  this  meeting  are  still  standing  by  the 
work  as  faithfuly  as  any  one  can. 

The  membership  became  somewhat  scattered 
during  the  last  two  years  of  Brother  Aberna- 
they's  pastorate  because  of  internal  troubles, 
but  it  has  since  become  united  and  is  working 
as  harmoniously  as  any  church  can. 

Brother  Abernethey  closed  his  pastorate  here 
during  the  summer  of  1920.  He  left  behind 
him  here  at  Loray  many  loyal  friends  who  still 
love  him  and  honor  him  as  a  faithful  pastor. 

30 


G.    P.   ABERNATHEY 


31 


C.  J.  BLACK. 

The  present  pastor  took  charge  of  Loray  the 
first  Sunday  in  November,  1920,  He  was  called 
the  fifth  day  of  September,  1920,  but  could  not 
take  charge  of  the  work  until  the  following  No- 
vember because  of  the  pastorate  he  was  leaving 
at  Norwood,  N.  C.  It  was  quite  difficult  for  him 
to  get  away  fror.  that  church,  and  it  was  with 
the  greatest  regret  that  he  had  to  leave  them, 
but  he  felt  the  call  of  God  to  come  to  Loray, 
and  because  of  this  he  came.  He  left  many  of 
the  very  best  friends  behind  him  at  Norwood, 
but  has  found  many  to  take  their  places  at  Gas- 
tonia.  When  he  took  charge  of  the  work  at 
Loray,  things  were  in  a  very  deplorable  con- 
dition. The  church  was  disorganized,  the 
membership  scattered,  the  Sunday  school  very 
small,  the  B.  Y.  P.  Y.  a  mere  organization,  and 
the  missionary  society  very  small  and  lifeless. 
The  first  thing  he  undertook  was  to  build  up  his 
congregation.  This  was  not  a  very  hard  task 
as  the  people  seemed  anxious  to  hear  the  old 
time  gospel.  It  was  not  many  Sundays  before 
the  Sunday  school  rooms  had  to  be  opened  to 
accommodate  the  crowds  that  came  to  our  Sun- 
day  rorning  services. 

The  next  thing  he  undertook  to  do  was  to 
build  the  membership  up.  It  had  gotten  in  a 
very  bad  condition.  Many  had  taken  letters 
many  had.  been  excluded,  and  some  had  jus'; 
fallen  out,  others  had  moved  into  the  commu- 
nity and  had  not  brought  their  letters  with 
them.  It  was  not  long  before  all  of  this  was  ov- 
ercome and  the  membership  was  normal  once 
more.  Many  brought  their  letters,  many  were  re- 
stored, and  numbers  were  baptized  upon  a  pro- 
fession of  faith.  Two  hundred  and  nineteen 
were  added  the  first  year  of  his  pastorate.  This 
was  done  without  a  revival.  We  had  a  revival 
all  of  the  time  on  Sundays.  We  do  not  know 
how  many  me.r.bers  we  had  when  we  took 
charge  here.  The  membership  was  in  such  an 
awful  condition.  There  was  no  roll  that  could 
be  depended  on.  We  found  more  than  a  hun- 
dred names  of  the  very  best  members  not  on 
the  roll,  and  yet  they  were  among  the  best  con- 
tributors we  had.  Many  had  moved  away, 
others  had  died,  and  some  had  never  belonged 
to  the  church  at  all.       We  are  still  trying  to  get 

29 


C.  J.  BLACK 
Pastor 


a  correct  roll,  but  it  is  a  very  difficult  matter 
to  do.  It  is  much  better  than  it  was  a  year 
ago,  but  is  far  from  correct  yet.  We  hope  to 
have  twelve  hundred  by  the  end  of  another 
year.  If  things  move  on  as  they  have  for  the 
past  year,  it  is  going  to  be  an  easy  matter  to 
get  them. 

Here  are  some  of  the  things  that  have  been 
done  since  the  present  pastor  took  charge : 

1.  The  congregation  has  been  greatly  en- 
larged, so  rr.ueh  so  that  the  auditorium  will 
scarcely  hold  it  although  a  nice  gallery  has  been 
put  in. 

2.  The  Sunday  school  has  become  the  largest 
in  the  city.  It  now  numbers  two  thousand,  and 
more,  and  before  this  goes  into  print,  it  may  be 
more  than  twenty-five  hundred.  This  is  the 
largest  we  have  heard  of  in  the  state. 

3.  The  missionary  society  has  grown  from  a 
very  small  organization  to  six  circles.  Some 
of  these  arc  very  active. 

4  .The  house  has  been  enlarged  consider- 
ably. Two  large  Sunday  school  rooms  have 
been  built,  the  primary  department  has  been 
very  much  improved  by  being  cut  up  into  small 
rooms,  and  kindergarten  chairs  have  been  put 
in  for  the  little  ones. 

5.  The  B.  Y.  P.  U.  work  has  been  greatly  en- 
larged and  strengthened.  We  now  have  four 
good  working  organizations  of  this  kind.  We 
have  two  senior  B.  Y.  P.  U.'s  and  an  interme- 
diate and  junior.  All  of  these  are  doing  fine 
work  now. 

6.  A  new  gallery  has  been  put  in  which  will 
seat  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  people  with- 
out taking  a  single  foot  of  auditorium  space. 

7.  The  parsonage  has  been  greatly  enlarged 
and  ir.  proved.  Cement  walks  have  been  laid, 
the  back  yard  fenced  in,  and  two  new  rooms 
have  been  added  to  the  house. 

8.  The  board  of  deacons  has  been  more 
thoroughly  organized  and  put  into  better  work- 
ing order. 

9.  An  assistant  has  been  added  to  the  work- 
ing force  of  the  pastor.  The  first  was  Mrs. 
E.  S.  Iverywho  did  but  partial  work,  but  very 
effective  service.  She  had  to  give  up  because 
of  the  serious  illness  of  her  husband  who  died 
July  19,  1922.       The  nastor's  daughter,  Ruth, 

34 


was  then  elected  by  the  church  to  take  the  work 
for  all  of  the  time.  She  worked  for  a  few 
months  and  rendered  great  service  to  the  pas- 
tor by  doing  his  office  work  and  all  the  outside 
work  she  could  get  to.  She  could  not  continue 
because  of  engagements  at  Sylva  Collegiate  In- 
stitute, and  Miss  Nell  Barbee  was  elected  to 
take  her  place. 

10.  A  sexton  has  been  put  on  for  all  the  time 
so  that  the  church  can  be  cared  for  as  it  should 
be. 

11.  The  indebtedness  of  the  church  though 
large  has  been  cancelled.  Many  more  insig- 
nificant things  have  been  done  that  we  will  not 
mention  here.  All  of  these  has  been  for  the 
real  advancement  of  the  cause  of  the  Master  at 
Loray. 

12.  A  Ford  roadster  has  been  purchased 
for  the  pastor  and  his  assistant  to  visit  the  mills 
in.  This  has  helped  most  wonderfully  in  the 
work. 

13.  A  nice  new  pipeless  furnace  has  been 
put  in  to  heat  the  auditorium.  This  has  done 
much  for  the  heating  business  of  the  church. 
We  did  not  have  sufficient  heat  for  all  of  the 
building.  The  sexton  now  can  make  the  audi- 
torium too  hot  to  be  comfortable.  We  are 
proud  that  this  work  has  been  done. 

14.  A  large  basement  has  bee  dug  under  the 
south  end  of  the  church  building  for  the  Junior 
department  of  the  Sunday  school.  This  is  go- 
ing to  give  us  a  room  eighty  feet  long  and  about 
forty  feet  wide  on  an  average.  It  is  not  the 
same  width  all  the  way.  This  is  going  to  help 
considerably  with  the  children's  work.  We 
hope  to  have  an  assistant  pastor  before  very 
long  who  can  preach  to  the  children  in  this 
room  while  the  pastor  is  preaching  to  the  con- 
gregation in  the  main  auditorium. 

15.  The  parsonage  has  been  re-painted,  the 
garage  enlarged,  and  a  nice  coat  of  white  paint 
put  on  the  church  building. 

16.  We  have  added  a  fine  orchestra  to  the 
music  department  with  other  improvements.  All 
of  this  makes  the  work  much  more  attractive. 

Many  acts  of  kindness  and  appreciation  have 
been  shown  the  pastor.  The  first  great  act 
was  the  presentation  of  a  nice  Knight  Templar 

35 


watch  charm  by  the  Berean  class.  The  second 
thing  was  a  check  for  eighty  dollars  with  an 
application  of  the  Shrine  attached  to  it.  ,:  No 
one  knows  just  how  much  these  things  were  ap- 
preciated. He  has  been  pounded  many  times, 
while  he  felt  very  unworthy,  yet  he  has  appre- 
ciated all  of  these  acts  of  kindness  more  than 
tongue  can  tell.  He  hopes  to  be  able  to  do  all 
that  the  cause  demands  of  him  here  for  many 
days  to  come. 


36 


PREACHERS   WHO   HAVE 
GONE  OUT  FROM  LORAY 

Loray  Baptist  chuvch  has  not  sent  out  very 
many  preachers.  The  only  one  we  have  been 
able  to  locate  who  has  gone  out  from  Loray 
as  a  full  fledged  preacher  is  Rev.  J.  J.  Waldrop. 
He  was  licensed  and  ordained  by  this  church. 
He  was  ordained  October  3,  1911,  at  Loray  Bap- 
tist church.  J.  J.  Beach  preached  the  ordi- 
nation ser  .1:011,  L.  M.  Hobbs  delivered  the 
charge,  and  G.  P.  Abernathy  presented  the  Bi- 
ble. Rev.  C.  M.  Robinson  was  pastor.  Brother 
Waldrop  has  made  good  in  the  ministry,  having 
served  several  important  churches  in  the  Gas- 
ton County  Baptist  Association.  Especially  is 
this  true  with  Lowell  Baptist  church.  He  served 
here  about  eighteen  months  and  put  the  church 
on  its  feet.  He  is  now  pastor  of  West  Albe- 
marle Baptist  church  at  Albemarle,  N.  C.  This 
is  a  noble  church  and  we  are  sure  that  he  will 
make  good  there. 

Brother  R.  G.  Short,  who  is  now  pastor  of 
West  Concord  Baptist  church  was  licensed  by 
this  church.  He  was  licensed  the  same  day 
Bro.  Waldrop  was.  He  was  a  member  here  for 
some  time  and  was  superintendent  of  the  Sun- 
day school.  He  was  ordained  at  Cherryville, 
N.  C. 

Recently  we  licensed  Brother  I.  R.  Ingle.  He 
is  a  noble  young  man ;  we  hope  he  will  do  much 
for  the  Master.  He  is  consecrated  and  earnest. 
It  takes  this  as  well  as  many  other  things  to 
make  a  succesful  preacher. 

We  have  many  more  young  men  who  have 
expressed  then:  selves  as  being  called  of  God  to 
preach,  but  as  yet  they  have  not  surrendered. 
We  hope  that  many  of  them  may  have  grace 
enough  to  step  out  and  do  what  the  Lord  would 
have  them  do.  The  older  preachers  are  fast 
giving  way ;  new  ones  must  take  their  places,  or 
they  are  going  to  leave  some  terrible  gaps  for 
the  devil  to  step  in  and  occupy.  Let  us  pray 
that  many  of  these  who  say  they  are  called  to 
preach  may  step  out  and  do  what  the  Lord 
would  have  them  do. 

We  have  the  following  young  ladies  who 
have  volunteered  to  go  as  missionaries : 

37 


Miss  Lela  Cobb,  who  is  a  senior  at  Meredith 
College.     She  goes  to  China. 

Miss  Alma  Kee,  who  is  a  student  at  South 
Mountain  Industrial  Institute. 

Miss  Myrtle  Allred,  who  is  a  student  at  Boil- 
ing Springs  High  School.  She  is  being  educat- 
ed for  a  pastor's  assistant.  All  of  these  girls 
are  as  fine  young  women  as  you  generally  see. 
We  are  very  proud  indeed  of  them. 

May  we  not  pray  that  the  Master  of  the  viner 
yard  will  send  more  laborers  into  his  vineyard 
from  Loray  Baptist  church  ? 


38 


W.   LEE   SMITH 

Chairman    Board    Deacons 

Superintendent   Sunday   School 


39 


THE  ORGANIZATION  OF  THE 
SUNDAY  SCHOOL 

The  first  Sunday  school  that  Loray  had  was 
organized  in  the  old  building  where  the  Bap- 
tists and  the  Methodists  held  services  for  some 
time.  This  was  on  Ransom  Street,  just  below 
the  Presbyterian  church.  We  do  not  know 
whether  it  is  still  standing  or  not.  If  it  is,  it 
is  being  used  for  a  dwelling.  This  church  has 
always  been  very  enthusiastic  along  this  line. 
The 'school  was  very  large  for  the  advantages 
it  had  in  the  very  beginning.  It  had  more  than 
a  hundred  present  the  most  of  the  time,  though 
they  did  not  have  any  thing  like  the  people  we 
now  have,  and  then,  they  did  not  have  any 
church  house  they  could  call  their  own.  We 
have  noticed  in  one  place  that  the  records  show 
they  had  one  hundred  and  forty  present  on  a 
rainy  Sunday.  This  was  more  than  we  had 
the  first  Sunday  we  held  services  with  this 
church.  The  Sunday  school  has  been  the  one 
organization  that  has  kept  Loray  going.  If  it 
had  not  been  for  the  Sunday  school,  lonq;  ago 
Loray  would  have  had  considerable  trouble  to 
exist,  but  the  work  has  gone  forward  all  the 
time  because  the  church  has  maintained  a  good 
strong  Sunday  school  It  now  has  the  lar^st 
Sunday  school  in  Gas' on  county,  if  not  in  the 
state.  Secretary  Middleton  tells  us  that  we 
have  the  largest  in  the  state.  We  have  more  than 
two  thousand  enrolled,  and  by  the  time  this 
goes  into  print,  there  may  be  three  thousand. 
This  is  a  great  school  for  a  church  in  a  suburban 
section.  We  have  two  classes  that  number  more 
than  eight  hundred.  The  Berean  class  has  five 
hundred  and  ninety-four,  the  Fidelis  class  has 
two  hundred  and  twenty-two.  Both  of  these 
classes  are  doing  well.  We  have  many  other 
classes  that  are  doing  excellent  work.  Among 
them  are  the  T.  E.  L.  and  the  Kings  Messengers. 
We  might  say  all  of  them  are  doing  good  work 
now. 

We  now  have  a  fine  Home  Department  and 
Cradle  Roll.  We  have  not  worked  this  as  it 
should  have  been,  but  we  are  hoping  to  make 
this  department  much  better  the  coming  year. 
We  are  sure  that  we  can  have  five  hundred  en- 

!0 


rolled  in  this  department  of  the  work. 

The  Sunday  school  at  Loray  has  grown  grad- 
ually since  its  organization  in  its  early  life. 
The  growth  has  been  so  steady  that  the  house 
has  had  to  be  enlarged  many  times  to  take  care 
of  it.  The  first  enlargement  was  made  during 
the  pastorate  of  Rev.  A.  T.  Stoudenmire. 
This  was  the  addition  built  to  the  front  of  the 
house.  This  addition  gave  them  four  new 
Sunday  school  rooms,  but  this  was  not  sufficient 
and  stilll  others  had  to  be  built.  The  next  sec- 
tion was  built  to  the  west  side  of  the  house. 
This  addition  gave  them  several  new  rooms  and 
added  much  to  the  convencience  of  the  Sunday 
school.  This  addition  was  built  during  the 
pastorate  of  Rev.  G.  P.  Abernathey.  This  im- 
provement added  much  to  the  work,  but  still 
was  not  enough  to  care  for  the  ever  growing 
work  of  the  Sunday  school  at  this  place.  This 
last  addition  had  to  be  arranged  in  rooms  and 
all  of  the  space  so  divided  that  it  could  not  be 
used  for  classes.  Kindergarden  chairs  were 
placed  in  several  of  the  rooms  and  better  con- 
veniences that  were  able  to  make.  We  hope 
now  to  be  able  to  put  chairs  in  all  of  the  rooms 
in  the  primary  department  so  that  we  can  care 
for  the  little  ones  as  well  as  any  church  in  our 
city.  We  do  not  lack  very  much  now  of  hav- 
ing this  arrangement,  and  if  Brother  F.  N. 
Wood  continues  to  care  for  this  department,  it 
will  soon  need  another  house.  It  has  grown 
from  about  two  hundred  to  nearly  one  thou- 
sand since  he  took  charge  of  it  less  than  one 
year  ago.  Our  aim  is  to  make  this  the  best 
primary  department  in  the  south. 

We  have  a  most  excellent  suprintendent  now, 
and  when  we  get  a  few  more  teachers  trained 
for  the  work,  we  are  going  to  have  one  of  the 
best  Sunday  schools  in  the  south.  We  have 
some  of  the  most  consecrated  workers  we  have 
ever  seen  working  in  this  Sunday  school. 
They  never  tire  at  all.  Now,  as  we  grow,  we  are 
anxious  to  add  more  teachers  of  the  same  cali- 
ber as  those  we  now  have. 

The  following  have  served  as  superintendents 
of  the  Sundav  school  at  Lorav  :  J.  J.  Smith  L. 
J.  Waldrop,  C.  L.  Chandler,  W.  E.  Hull,  A.  H. 
Mitchem,    R.    G.    Short,    Archie    Smith,    R.    C. 

41 


Fisher,  J.  R.  Broom,  G.  W.  Corn,  R.  F.  Little- 
john,  and  the  present  superintendent,  W.  Lee 
Smith.  There  may  have  been  others  who  ser- 
ved but  we  have  not  been  able  to  learn  who 
they  were.  These  are  all  that  we  have  been 
able  to  secure  the  names  of. 

Now  we  have  this  last  word  to  say  about  this 
work.  We  have  been  pastor  for  many  years. 
We  have  had  many  Sunday  schools  to  look 
after.  We  have  had  many  suprintendents  to 
contend  with,  but  this  we  are  compelled  to  say, 
we  never  have  had  a  more  enthusiastic  bunch 
to  contend  with  in  all  of  our  ministry.  Every 
one  of  the  Sunday  school  workers  seems  to  have 
all  the  enthusiasm  any  one  needs  to  make  the 
work  a  glorious  success.  With  our  church 
growing  as  it  is,  with  the  people  taking  the  in- 
terest in  the  Sunday  school  as.they  do,  and  with 
the  people  we  have  to  draw  from,  there  is  not 
any  telling  what  the  results  are  going  to  be. 
We  hope  to  have  one  of  the  best  days  the  first 
Sunday  in  October  we  have  had  since  Loray  be- 
came a  church.  We  are  going  to  have  a  grand 
rally  day  then  and  make  our  new  roll  for  the 
year  1923.  Let  us  all  work  and  pray  that  we 
may  be  the  equal  of  the  task  before  us.  We 
have  one  of  the  greatest  opportunities  at  all 
along  this  line.  Our  only  trouble  is  equip- 
ment. We  do  not  have  what  we  need  to  care 
for  a  school  like  we  have.  We  need  more 
house,  and  a  better  arrangement  to  care  for  the 
little  ones. 

We  have  large  rooms  now,  but  if  we  had 
what  we  really  need,  it  would  take  thirty  nice 
rooms,  twenty  by  twenty  to  care  for  the  little 
ones  as  the  school  increases.  We  hope  to  see 
a  nice  modern  church  building  erected  here  for 
this  kind  of  work  before  we  leave  this  field. 
Oh,  how  we  do  need  it. 

Let  us  work  for  our  Sunday  school,  let  us 
pray  for  it,  and  then  let  us  be  so  proud  of  it  that 
we  will  always  attend  it  to  the  best  of  our 
ability.  All  of  this  will  make  it  a  continual 
blessing  to  the  kingdom  of  God  in  our  section 
of  this  city. 


42 


OFFICERS   OF  SUNDAY  SCHOOL 


THE  BEREAN  CLASS 

This  class  was  organized  under  the  ministry 
of  Rev.  A.  T.  Stoudenmire  about  the  year  of 
1914,   but   did   not   have   many  members   until 

1921.  It  was  first  the  Baraca  class,  and  was 
changed  from  Baraca  to  Berean. 

When  the  present  pastor,  C.  J.  Black,  took 
hold  of  the  class  in  1920,  he  found  about 
eighteen  in  it.  He  did  not  intend  to  teach  the 
class,  but  since  the  pastors  had  always  had  this 
class,  he  could  not  afford  to  fall  down  on  the 
job,  so  he  took  hold  of  it  with  all  the  strength 
he  had.  It  was  not  long  before  the  class  had 
grown  to  enormous  proportions.  The  old 
room  had  to  be  abandoned.  The  class  then 
went  in  the  main  auditorium  for  a  few  Sundays, 
but  this  was  not  satisfactory.  The  pastor  then 
weny  to  Mr.  Hayes,  the  General  Agent  of  the 
Loray  Mills,  for  some  kind  of  relief.  He  let 
the  class  have  the  Bradley  Hall  for  the  time 
being.  It  was  not  long  until  it  too  was  entirely 
too  small.  The  next  step  was  to  build  a  room 
for  the  class.  The  Loray  Mill  Company  of- 
fered the  building  material,  and  the  class  paid 
for  the  work.  Three  weeks  from  the  time  we  be- 
gan work  on  the  new  room  we  had  a  meeting 
in  it.  This  room  was  built  to  the  rear  of  the 
church  building.  It  was  thirty  by  forty  feet. 
This  did  much  for  the  class.  The  boys  were 
very  proud  of  it,  and  worked  like  beavers  to 
fill  it,  and  they  did  to  the  overf  ow.       In  April, 

1922,  it  became  very  evident  that  a  new  room 
would  have  to  be  built  as  the  one  recently  built 
became  too  small.  The  class  met  in  the  West 
School  xA.uditorium  for  several  Sundays,  but  this 
was  not  satisfactory.  It  became  very  evident 
that  something  must  be  done,  so  they  began  to 
cast  about  to  see  what  they  could  do  to  make 
it  possible  for  the  class  to  meet  without  inter- 
ruption. The  plan  decided  upon  was  to  build 
another  room  to  the  South  end  of  the  church 
building,  but  this  would  cost  several  hundred 
dollars,  and  what  must  be  done  to  secure  it? 
The  pastor,  with  the  assistance  of  Mr.  W.  P. 
Cargill  and  Mr.  M.  H.  McLendon,  secured  a 
check  for  $1500.00  from  F.  L.  Jenckes,  the 
Treasurer  of  the  Loray  Mill  Company.  This 
made  the  new  room  a  reality.       E.  L.  Quinn,  a 


member  of  the  class,  took  the  work  in  hand  and 
in  three  weeks  this  room  was  finished,  as  Joe 
Alexander  had  finished  the  former  one.  The 
class  is  now  holding  its  meetings  in  the  new 
room,  and  has  comfort  and  convenience  suf- 
ficient to  attract  any  one  desiring  to  attend  a 
strictly  first  class  Sunday  school.  The  room  is 
well  equipped.  It  has  two  nice  electric  fans 
with  fifty-six  inch  blades,  a  nice  piano  paid  for,, 
and  with  money  still  in  the  treasury,  and  any- 
thing else  the  boys  desire  for  their  convenience 
or  pleasure.  A  social  is  held  by  the  class  once 
a  month.  The  boys  get  together  and  crack 
jokes  for  awhile,  then  they  serve  some  kind  of 
refresh  rents.  This  is  not  a  misspent  hour  at 
all.     It  has  done  much  good. 

Now  here  aie  some  of  the  things  this  class 
has  done :  It  took  care  of  one  orphan  for  sev- 
eral zronths  prior  to  1920.  During  1920  it  fed 
many  widows  and  orphans.  It  is  now  caring 
for  two  orphans  at  Thomasville,  and  has  a  mis- 
sionary girl  at  South  Mountain  Baptist  Institute. 
It  is  caring  for  her  by  paying  all  of  her  ex- 
penses. It  has  a  weekly  bulletin,  and  has 
spent  several  hundred  dollars  advertising. 
The  class  now  numbers  five  hundred  and  nine- 
ty-four. The  aim  of  the  class  for  this  year 
was  five  hundred,  but  we  are  going  far  be- 
yond that  number.  We  are  going  beyond  the 
six  hundred  mark  if  things  keep  moving  as  they 
have  been.  The  following  are  the  officers  of 
the  class : 

OFFICIARY  OF  CLASS. 

PRESIDENT:      C.  P.  Gardner. 

TEACHER:     C.  J.  Black. 

1st  VICE-PRESIDENT:  W.  P.  Cargill. 
Com. :  Johnie  Lowe,  J.  T.  Phillips,  Flay  Wof- 
ford,  Joe  Alexander,  Lee  Corn. 

2nd  VICE-PRESIDENT:  M.  H.  McLendon. 
Com. :  E.  L.  Quinn,  R.  F.  Adams,  James 
Queen,  W.  B.  Vickers,  W.  M.  Ledford,  J.  V. 
Green. 

3rd  VICE-PRESIDENT :  W.  D.  Davis.  Com. : 
Forney  Lowe,  George  Moore,  E.  E.  Bolick. 

SECRETARY:     C.  T.  Settlemyer. 

ASSISTANT :     Russell  Jenkins. 

TREASURER  :     W.  Gray  McArver. 
45 


ASSISTANT  :     Will  E.  Black. 

REPORTER :     W.  L.  Hawkins. 

PIANIST:     W.  D.  Davis. 

ORCHESTRA:  J.  S.  Hall,  W.  W.  Francis, 
Lee  Corn,  John  Lynch,  W.  D.  Davis,  Y.  D. 
Smith  and  Hugh  "Chick"  Srith. 

We  cannot  tell  what  this  class  may  do  in  the 
future.  It  has  done  wonders  in  the  past,  and 
if  it  is  kept  in  tact  for  the  coming  year,  there  is 
not  anything  reasonable  that  will  be  too  great 
for  it  to  undertake.  It  is  composed  of  as  fine  a 
body  of  men  as  any  one  ever  saw.  May  it  go 
on  doing  good  for  years  to  come. 


-16 


THE  WOMAN'S  MISSIONARY 
SOCIETY 

The  Women's  Missionary  Society  at  Loray  is 
almost  as  old  as  the  organization  of  the  church. 
It  was  organized  in  1908,  if  we  have  been  cor- 
rectly informed.  We  have  not  been  able  to  get 
the  data  we  ought  to  have  had  to  write  this  ar- 
ticle, but  we  have  searched  all  we  can  to  get  at 
the  facts  in  the  case.  When  the  society  was  or- 
ganized, it  was  composed  of  both  single  and 
married  ladies.  We  are  not  quite  sure  who 
was  the  first  president.  It  may  have  been  Mis, 
J.  D.  Moose,  or  it  may  have  been  Miss  Etta  Wal- 
drop;  Mrs,  W.  V.  West  was  the  first  secretary. 
The  young  ladies  took  hold  and  did  all  they 
could  until  the  Young  Women's  Auxiliary  was 
organized  while  Rev.  A.  T.  Stoudenmire  was 
pastor. 

The  society  did  not  give  very  much  at  first, 
but  was  heroic  in  its  efforts.  The  members  did 
not  make  very  much  money  at  that  time  but 
they  were  willing  to  give  as  liberally  as  they 
could  of  what  they  made.  They  have  given  the 
following  amounts:  1908,  $2.75;  $1909,  $6.00; 
1910,  $21.12 ;  1911,  $17.75  ;  1912,  $10.65  ;  1913, 
$5.40;  1914,  $26.52;  1915,  $25.95;  1916, 
$44.31;  1917,  $82.66;  1918,  $121,34;  1919, 
$81.40;  1920,  $318,33;  1921,  $422.80,  and 
1922,  $721.89.  The  total  amount  given  by  the 
society  since  its  organization  is  $1,908.87. 
These  figures  show  that  they  steadily  increased 
in  contributions  from  year  to  year.  If  all  of 
the  church  would  have  given  as  these  women 
did  dining  these  years,  we  would  have  given 
many  times  more  than  we  have. 

When  the  Young  Women's  Auxiliary  was  or- 
ganized it  took  many  of  the  best  workers  of  the 
society,  leaving  only  married  ladies  for  the  task. 
This  made  it  rather  hard  for  them  because  at 
this  time  scarcely  any  of  the  ladies  were  inter- 
ested in  this  kind  of  work.  It  was  new  to  them 
and  they  were  slow  to  take  hold  of  it,  but  the 
faithful  ones  stood  by  the  work  and  would  not 
give  up  under  any  consideration.  They  worked, 
they  prayed,  and  longed  to  have  a  flourishing 
societj'.  Often  they  would  become  discour- 
aged, but  they  would  not  give  up.     Some  one 

47 


of  them  would  have  enough  zeal  to  fire  the 
others,  so  they  would  start  anew  for  the  vic- 
tory. They  wanted  to  get  others  enlisted.  They 
knew  that  this  would  bring  the  society  up  to 
what  they  desired  it  to  be.  They  would  pray 
that  God  might  give  them  the  victory.  They 
believed  what  he  had  promised  that  where  two 
or  three  had  gathered  together,  there  would 
he  be  to  own  and  to  bless.  It  was  awfully  dark 
when  they  would  not  have'  but  two,  or  possibly 
three,  present,  but  they  did  not  waver.  Finally 
the  day  of  hope  began  to  dawn.  The  sun  of  vic- 
tory began  to  rise.  Many  of  the  ladies  who  had 
not  been  attending,  became  interested  and 
joined  the  -society;  their  meetings  began  to 
have  more  life  in  them,  and  the  society  began  to 
see  that  it  could  do  many  things  it  had  not  un- 
dertaken before.  The  little  handful  that  had 
been  so  faithful,  and  that  had  gone  through  so 
many  severe  struggles  soon  became  a  stalwart 
band  of  determined  women.  The  society  became 
so  strong  that  it  was  very  evident  that  it  must  be 
divided  into  circles  to  reach  all  of  the  sections 
of  the  territory  covered  by  the  church.  So  in 
1921,  several  circles  were  organized.  This 
gave  the  work  much  impetus,  so  much  that 
other  circles  were  soon  organized.  It  now  has 
six  circles  and  each  of  them  is  in  charge  of  a 
consecrated  sister  who  loves  the  work  and  is 
doing  all  that  she  can  to  make  the  society  a 
glorious  success.  These  circles  meet  one  Thurs- 
day afternoon  in  each  month.  They  usually 
meet  at  the  same  hour.  This  enables  the  church 
to  have  the  advantage  of  a  service  in  every  sec- 
tion worked  by  the  society.  All  of  the  circles 
meet  at  the  church  one  Sunday  afternoon  in 
each  month.  This  meeting  is  usually  very  in- 
teresting. The  sisters  seem  to  enjoy  meeting 
together  very  much.  All  of  the  members  of 
the  different  circles  do  not  attend  this  meeting, 
but  the  officers  all  try  to  be  present,  and  they 
usually  are.  During  the  summer  of  1922  all  of 
the  circles  met  at  Brother  J.  C.  Ham's  residence 
just  beyond  Linwood  street  and  had  one  of  the 
most  interesting  meetings  the  society  has  ever 
had.  Watermelons  and  other  refreshments 
were  served.  The  meeting  was  a  most  enjoya- 
ble one.     It  did  the  work  a  great  deal  of  good. 


The  society  is  doing  many  very  helpful 
things  at  present.  For  the  past  years  it  has 
stood  for  everything  that  is  worth  while  along 
the  line  of  helping  the  unfortunate  of  this 
world.  They  have  tried  to  feed  the  hungry, 
clothe  the  naked,  and  encourage  the  discon- 
solate. They  have  been  active  in  trying  to 
lead  the  lost  to  Christ.  They  are  interested  in 
the  education  of  young  women.  They  are  now 
assisting  two  missionary  girls.  These  are  Miss 
Lela  Cobb,  who  is  a  senior  at  Meredith  Col- 
lege, and  Miss  Myrtle  Allred,  who  is  a  stu- 
dent at  Boiling  Springs  High  School.  These 
girls  are  doing  noble  work  and  are  the  pride  of 
the  society. 

The  society  sends  the  Orphanage  a  nice  box 
every  Thanksgiving.  They  sent  the  nicest  one 
in  1922  they  have  been  able  to  get  at  all.  They 
try  to  send  sot.  ething  that  will  be  useful  in  the 
home  life  of  the  children  at  the  Orphanage. 
They  sent  some  nice  quilts  in  the  last  box.  It 
is  wonderful  to  see  how  easily  the  ladies  get 
this  work  done.  They  usually  get  a  quilt  out 
within  a  few  hours. 

The  misionary  society  has  always  been  the 
pastor's  readiest  helper.  It  has  never  turned 
down  a  single  demand  that  any  pastor  has 
made  if  the  sisters  thought  that  it  was  a  just 
one.  If  the  floor  is  to  be  carpeted.  if  stands 
ready  to  take  the  lead  in  the  work ;  if  seats  are 
to  be  bought,  it  is  ready  at  a  moment's  warning 
to  do  all  that  it  can  ;  if  the  poor  are  to  be  visited, 
it  stands  ready  to  go  at  once  and  do  all  that 
can  be  done  to  assist  in  any  possible  way.  If 
the  naked  are  to  be  clothed,  it  is  always  ready 
to  do  all  that  it  can  to  put  clothing  upon  the 
naked  backs  of  the  needy.  Several  times  we 
have  had  to  send  some  of  the  sisters  to  see 
after  poor  families  that  needed  help.  They  al- 
ways went  cheerfully  and  did  more  than  they 
were  asked  to  do.  The  truth  of  it  is,  the  mis- 
sionary society  is  the  pastor's  reliance.  He  has 
to  call  upon  the  missionary  society  when  trou- 
bles come  that  he  cannot  handle  by  himself. 
They  can  always  be  depended  on.  If  all  of 
our  pastors  could  realize  just  what  a  mis- 
sionary society  really  means,  we  would  have 
more  of  them  than  we  do.     We  feel  so  sorry 

49 


for  a  pastor  who  does  not  know  enough  about 
this  kind  of  work  to  aid  it  enough  to  get  assist- 
ance out  of  it  when  he  needs  what  ladies  can 
do  for  a  church.  If  every  pastor  could  have 
the  support  of  such  a  band  of  women  as  the 
Loray  Baptist  Missionary  Society  is,  many  of 
them  would  succeed  who  otherwise  fail.  There 
was  never  a  more  loyal  band  of  women  on 
earth.  May  they  grow  from  year  to  year  in 
their  acts  of  charity  and  benevolence. 

The  society  now  has  the  following  officers : 

President,  Mrs,  D.  A.  Grigg. 

Secretary,  Mrs.  M.  H.  McLendon. 

Treasurer,  Mrs.  C.  J.  Black. 

The  circles  are  all  named  and  each  one  of 
them  is  under  the  care  of  a  most  competent  and 
consecrated  leader.  The  following  are  the  cir- 
cles at  present  and  their  leaders  : 

No.  1 — Fannie  Heck  Circle,  Mrs.  Iris  Mundy 
President. 

No.  2— Sallie  Grigg  Circle,  Mrs,  F.  N.  Wood 
President. 

No.  3 — Jane  Bostic  Circle,  Mrs.  Jacob  L.  Al- 
exander President. 

No.  4 — Annie  Laura  Circle,  Mrs.  H,  G.  Settle- 
meyer  President. 

No.  5 — Arlington  Circle,  Mrs.  Hunter  Harri- 
son President. 

No.  6 — Fannie  Moore  Circle,  Mrs,  C.  L. 
Mauney  President. 

All  of  these  circles  are  in  good  working  or- 
der. Some  of  them  are  very  large.  One  is 
trying  to  have  fifty  ladies  present  at  one  of 
their  meetings.  This  is  circle  No.  3  ;  Mrs.  Al- 
exander is  very  optimistic  over  the  results  she 
has  thus  far  obtained.  All  of  the  circles  are 
doing  well  considering  the  opportunity  they 
have.  Here  is  a  list  of  the  things  the  society 
has  done  for  the  past  year: 
To  the  Seventy-fiveMillion  Campaign  __$567.34 
To  Home  Expense $154.55 

Religious  visits  made,  863  ;  literature  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  distributed,  170;  flowers  given  to 
the  sick,  70  bunches;  57  quarts  of  milk  were 
given  to  the  sick  and  poor;  321  garments  were 
given  to  the  naked,  30  unconverted  people  were 
talked  with ;  3  Bibles  were  given  to  those  who 
did   not  have  one;   8  cottage   prayer  meetings 

50 


were  held,  and  a  nice  tray  was  given  the  pas- 
tor's wife.  This  was  a  most  beautiful  gift,  and 
one  that  was  most  highly  appreciated.  It  is 
quite  an  asset  to  the  parsonage  dining  room. 

We  hope  that  through  the  coming  years 
while  we  are  waiting  for  the  blessed  Lord's  re- 
turn, this  missionary  society  may  realize  its 
place  more  and  more,  and  that  it  may  do  a 
much  greater  work  than  it  has  done  in  the  past. 
May  it  mean  as  much,  and  more  if  possible, 
to  all  the  succeeding  pastors  as  it  has  for  those 
who  have  gone  before.  We  hope  to  see  more 
than  two  hundred  sisters  united  in  this  work 
before  the  year  of  1923  is  gone.  We  trust  that 
this  article  in  this  little  book  may  inspire  every 
lady  who  reads  it  to  take  a  place  in  this  noble 
organization  and  do  her  best  for  Him  who  did 
so  much  for  us.     Women  of  God,  go  forward. 


51 


B.  Y.  P.  U. 

(By  Miss  Blanche  Grigg) 

A  B.  Y.  P.  U.  was  organized  during  the  pas- 
torate of  Rev.  J.  D.  Moose.  This  union,  how- 
ever, lasted  only  a  short  while.  After  Rev.  G.  P. 
Abernathy  became  pastor  of  the  church  there 
was  felt  again  a  need  for  an  organization  for 
young  church  members.  On  the  second  Sunday 
in  November,  1916,  about  twenty  young  peo- 
ple together  with  the  deacons,  the  pastor  and 
Rev.  W.  C.  Barrett  met  and  organized  a  B.  Y. 
P.  U.  This  was  the  beginning  of  our  present 
B.  Y.  P.  U.  There  are  still  a  few  members  in 
the  union  today  who  were  present  at  this  meet- 
ing. 

During  this  time  the  B.  Y.  P.  U.  has  stead- 
ily grown,  although  it  has  passed  through  many 
trying  times.  The  young  people  have  found  it 
a  great  help  to  them  in  church  work.  As  a 
result  almost  all  of  the  B.  Y.  P.  U.  members 
are  Bible  readers,  systematic  givers  and  faith- 
ful supporters  of  the  church. 

Every  year  since  its  organization,  delegates 
have  been  sent  to  the  State  B.  Y.  P.  U.  conven- 
tion and  the  whole  union  is  greatly  benefited  by 
the  reports  given  from  the  delegates. 

The  union  has  enjoyed  many  social  occasions 
which  have  made  the  members  better  acquaint- 
ed with  each  other.  The  union  joined  the  City 
B.  Y.  P.  U.  in  1920  and  several  meetings  of  the 
City  Union  have  been  held  at  cur  church. 

The  year  of  1921  was  a  propitious  one  for 
our  B.  Y,  P.  U.  work.  It  was  during  this  year 
that  the  union  attained  for  the  first  time  the  A-l 
standard.  In  May  of  this  year  it  was  thought 
best  to  divide  the  union.  Accordingly,  Section 
B  was  organized.  This  union  made  a  fine  be- 
ginning. It  was  composed  of  some  of  the  for- 
mer members  of  the  B.  Y.  P.  U.,  and  of  those 
who  had  never  belonged  to  a  union  before. 
This  Section  joined  the  City  Union  soon  after  its 
organization. 

In  the  fall  of  1921,  Rev.  C.  J.  Black  offered  a 
silver  loving  cup  to  the  union  which  made  the 
highest  percentage  in  Bible  reading,  attend- 
ance, new  members,  and  the  most  improvement 
in  rendering  programs.  This  cup  was  won  by 
Section  A. 

52 


During  this  year  the  Junior  B.  Y.  P.  U.  was 
organized.  Great  work  is  being  done  by  this 
union  in  the  training  of  the  children.  A  large 
number  attend  the  meetings  and  render  good 
programs. 

The  Intermediate  B.  Y.  P.  U.  which  has  been 
organized  recently,  is  doing  great  work.  Some 
of  the  best  programs  given  by  any  of  the  unions 
are  being  given  by  the  Intermediate  boys  and 
girls.  They  know  how  to  do  things  and  are 
interested  in  the  work.  The  outlook  for  our 
future  B.  Y.  P.  U.  is  very  promising  indeed. 


53 


BOARD    OF    DEACONS 


54 


CLERKS  OF  LORAY  CHURCH 

The    following    have    been    clerks   of   Loray 
Baptist  church : 
W.  H.  Nolen, 
Clarence  D.  Barnes, 
J.  V.  Kendrick, 
J.  W.  Aycock, 
C.  L.  Chandler, 
A.  H.  Mitchem, 
W.  A.  Smith, 
R.  F.  Littlejohn, 
W.  B.  Ferguson, 
J.  Mack  Jenkins, 
L.  J.  Waldrop. 


TREASURERS  OF  LORAY 
CHURCH 

The  following  have  been  treasurers  of  Loray 
Baptist  church : 
G.  W.  Nance, 
G.  W.  Corn, 
W.  V.  West, 

C.  L.  Padgett, 
Jacob  L.  Alexander, 

D.  A.  Grigg. 


55 


L.  J.  WALDROP 
Clerk 


56 


D.  A.  GRIGG 
Treasurer 


57 


THE  BOARD  OF  DEACONS 

The  Board  of  Deacons  consists  of  the  follow- 
ing brethren  :  W.  Lee  Smith,  Chairman  ;  L.  J. 
Waldrop,  Secretary;  J.  C.  Smith,  S.  L.  Smith, 
D.  V.  Vaughn,  L.  L.  Marshall,  J.  A.  Gordon, 
W.  D.  Davis,  D.  W.  Blanton,  D.  A.  Grigg,  E.  C. 
Torrence,  R.  F.  Littlejohn,  J.  C.  Morton,  C.  L. 
Conrad,  D.  H.  Cobb,  Jacob  L.  Alexander,  Joe  L. 
Alexander. 

The  above  men  are  as  good  a  board  of  dea- 
cons as  we  have  ever  had  in  a  church  anywhere. 
We  have  been  serving  churches  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century,  but  we  have  never  had  a 
more  agreeable  bunch  to  work  with  since  we 
have  been  pastor  of  Baptist  churches.  They 
always  try  to  make  peace  rather  than  to  dis- 
turb it.  They  always  try  to  co-operate  with 
their  pastor  in  every  good  work.  Some  of  them 
are  getting  old  and  cannot  attend  as  they  would 
like  to,  but  they  are  just  as  much  interested  as 
they  were  years  ago.  They  attend  all  they  can, 
and  if  they  do  not  get  to  a  meeting,  they  are 
willing  to  try  to  carry  out  what  others  plan. 
They  stand  together  as  well  as  any  set  of  men 
can.  If  Loray  Baptist  church  does  not  suc- 
ceed, it  will  not  be  the  fault  of  the  board  of 
deacons.  They  are  on  the  job ;  all  they  need  is 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  church.  Dea- 
cons cannot  do  what  they  should  unless  they 
have  the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  church.  If 
the  church  supports  them,  they  can  make  things 
go  without  a  pastor.  Our  deasons  are  all  Bap- 
tist and  stand  square  on  moral  issues.  They 
are  four-square  men. 


58 


MOTIONS  AND  RESOLUTIONS 
PASSED  BY  THE  CHURCH 

Loray  Baptist  church  has  never  passed  many 
resolutions,  and  some  of  those  passed  have  been 
rescinded.  We  have  gone  through  the  books 
carefully  and  do  not  find  any  but  the  following : 

1.  The  church  will  not  grant  a  letter  of  dis- 
mission to  any  member  of  this  church  who  has 
not  paid  something  to  some  object  in  the  church 
within  thirty  days  previous  to  the  tixe  the  letter 
is  called  for,  except  in  cases  of  sickness.  This 
resolution  was  passed  May  11,  1910. 

2.  Be  it  therefore  resolved :  That  this 
church  in  conference  at  the  proper  time,  elect 
annually  the  Sunday  school  superintendent,  sec- 
retary and  treasurer  in  the  following  manner : 
The  Board  of  Deacons,  the  Sunday  school  teach- 
ers, and  the  pastor  of  the  church  shall  meet  to- 
gether one  week,  or  longer,  before  said  confer- 
ence and  agree  on,  and  nominate  to  the  church 
conference  one  name  for  each  of  the  above  of- 
fices, the  officers  to  serve  one  year.  Should  a 
nominee  fail  to  be  elected,  or  a  vacancy  occur, 
said  rule  of  election  shall  apply.  That  the 
teachers  of  the  Sunday  school  shall  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  superintendent  with  the  consent 
of  the  pastor  of  the  church,  except  that  the  or- 
ganized adult  classes  be  allowed  to  elect  offi- 
cers and  teachers;  provided  such  officers  and 
teachers — except  committees — are  members  of 
this  church. 

The  above  resolution  has  been  observed  very 
closely  since  the  present  pastor  took  charge. 
He  did  not  know  that  it  was  on  the  church 
books  until  he  began  this  history,  but  is  de- 
lighted to  know  that  this  church  is  modern 
enough  in  its  management  to  have  such  a  res- 
olution on  its  books,  The  above  resolution  was 
passed  July  1,  1914. 

3.  The  following  resolution  was  passed  con- 
cerning the  granting  of  church  letters  : 

Whereas,  members  of  this  Baptist  church 
who  move  away  and  neglect  to  secure  letters  of 
dismission  and  thereby  drift  into  indifference 
and  neglect,  and  finally  exclusion  from  the 
church.  Therefore,  be  it  resolved  :  That  mem- 
bers of  this  church  are  requested  to  procure  let- 
ter when  moving  to  other  communities.     That 

59 


any  member  failing  to  do  so,  being  excluded,  or 
dropped  from  the  roll,  shall  not  be  granted  a 
letter  in  full  fellowship  except  upon  making  a 
contribution  to  the  church  and  a  proper  con- 
fession for  neglect. 

The  above  resolution  was  adopted  July  1, 
1914.  The  above  resolution  has  not  been  ob- 
served. We  do  not  see  anything  wrong  with 
it,  but,  like  many  of  our  resolutions.,  it  is  hard 
to  observe  it  all  the  time.  So  many  exceptions 
have  to  be  made  that  it  is  really  best  to  let  the 
circumstances  govern  the  action  of  the  church. 
You  just  cannot  follow  any  rule  too  rigidxy 
when  it  comes  to  the  handling  of  members  in  a 
church.  There  is  so  much  difference  in  folks 
Some  can  be  handled  almost  any  way,  while 
others  can  not  be  handled  but  one  way. 

4.  The  following  resolution  was  passed  by 
the  church  concerning  entertainments  in  the 
church : 

Resolved,  That  no  Sunday  school  class,  or 
other  party,  shall  have  any  entertainment,  ice 
cream  supper,  or  anything  in  connection  with 
or  for  the  benefit  of  the  church  without  first 
consulting  the   pastor. 

The  above  resolution  was  adopted  March  31, 
1915. 

We  trust  that  the  above  resolution  may  be 
clos3ly  observed.  There  is  nothing  more  detri- 
mental to  the  spiritual  development  of  a  church 
than  this  habitual  habit  of  having  suppers  in  a 
church.  They  never  bring  good.  The  apostle 
Paul  said  for  us  not  to  go  to  the  house  of  God 
just  to  eat  and  drink. 

5.  The  following  resolution  was  passed  by 
the  church  November  8,  1922 : 

Resolved,  That  all  members  guilty  of  drunk- 
enness must  appear  before  the  church  in  person 
and  acknowledge  the  same  if  they  wish  the 
church  to  forgive  them.  If  they  do  not  come 
before  the  church,  they  shall  stand  excluded. 

The  reason  this  resolution  was  passed  was 
because  of  the  fact  that  numbers  had  been  get- 
ting drunk  and  were  giving  the  church  untold 
trouble.  This  resolution  puts  the  burden  on 
the  individual  who  gets  drunk. 

We  trust  that  every  member  will  read  these 
resolutions  carefully. 

60 


R,   F.   L5TTLEJOHN 
Chorister 


61 


LORAY'S  GREATEST  VICTORY 

When  the  present  pastor  took  charge  of  Lo- 
ray  church,  there  was  quite  a  debt  against  it. 
The  parsonage  had  not  been  built  but  one  year 
and  other  improvements  had  been  made  on  the 
church  house.  These  improvements  were  all 
made  when  things  were  at  their  highest  be- 
cause of  the  recent  war.  Lumber,  brick,  ce- 
ment, lime,  hardware,  and  everything  used  in 
the  construction  of  a  house  wer^e  at  the  high- 
est pitch  possible.  This  made  it  hard  for  a 
church  to  make  any  kind  of  material  improve- 
ment without  going  into  debt.  Loray  needed 
a  parsonage  and  everything  else  it  did,  but  was 
not  able  to  pay  for  these  improvements,  or  at 
least  it  did  not  pay  for  them,  and  when  the 
present  pastor  took  hold,  he  found  it  about  four 
thousand  dollars  in  debt.  This  was  carried  by 
the  banks.  These  notes  soon  became  due.  What 
had  to  be  done  ?  Why  they  must  be  paid,  or 
renewed.  The  church  could  not  pay  them  at 
this  time,  so  they  had  to  be  renewed.  They 
soon  were  due  again,  and  again  they  were  re- 
newed. The  pastor  soon  became  tired  of  this 
kind  of  thing,  so  he  made  an  effort  to  pay  off 
one  of  the  notes.  By  much  effort  he  raised  the 
majority  of  the  note,  and  one  of  the  deacons.. 
Brother  C.  T.  Hawkins,  loaned  the  church  eight 
hundred  dollars  to  pay  the  remainder  of  the 
note.  This  note  came  due  during  the  fall  of 
1922.  Another  note  for  thirteen  hundred  and 
sixty-three  dollars  also  came  due  during  the 
fall.  The  deacons  decided  that  something  must 
be  done  to  get  this  debt  of  two  thousand  dol- 
lars off  the  church.  The  pastor  tried  his  best 
to  get  the  amount  subscribed  in  weekly  install- 
ments, but  failed.  He  then  brought  the  matter 
up  in  another  deacon's  meeting,  and  Brother 
J.  C.  Smith  suggested  that  we  divide  the  debt 
into  fifty-dollar  shares.  His  suggestion  met  the 
hearty  approval  of  the  board  of  deacons.  The 
pastor  had  some  stock  certificates  printed.  He 
presented  them  to  the  church  Sunday,  January 
7,  1923,  and  many  of  the  members  took  them 
and  went  to  work.  Within  a  week's  time  the 
most  of  the  debt  was  arranged  for,  and  the 
money  was  fast  being  collected.  Nearly  every 
department  in  the  Loray  mills  took  a  share  of 

62 


stock  in  the  debt,  and  all  of  the  other  mills 
where  the  anembers  of  Loray  church  work  did 
their  best  to  cancel  the  debt  at  the  time  set  for 
its  cancellation,  which  was  the  first  Sunday  in 
February.  ,  TheW.  M.  S.,  the  Intermediate  and 
Senior  B.  Y.  P.  U.'s  and  all  of  the  other  organ- 
izations took  shares  in  this  noble  movement  to 
rid  the  church  of  its  burdensome  debt. 

Some  of  the  most  heroic  work  v/as  done  to 
clear  this  up  that- we  have  ever  seen  anywhere. 
The  Intermediate  B.  Y.  P.  U.  took  one  half  share 
on  the.  start,  but  after  one  week  of  earnest 
work,  their  leader  decided  to  take  three  shares, 
and.  before -two  weeks  of  the  campaign  were 
gone,.she.had  the  most  of:them  paid.  No  more- 
heroic  work  could  have  been  done. 

The  next  noticeable  thing  done  during  this 
campaign  was  by  the  W.  M.  S.  The  pastor 
asked  the  ladies  to  take  one-half  a  share  for 
each  Circle  of  the  W.  M.  S,  The  ladies  have 
six  circles  and  every  one  of  them  took  one  share 
except  one.-  They  did  all  they  could  to  help 
pay  the  debt.  They  collected  money  from  every 
member  they  had,  they  held  a  banquet  on  Sat- 
urday evening,  January  29th,  the  Trenton 
women  sold  sandwiches  every  morning  and  ev- 
ening for  several  days,  they  quilted,  and  - — 
well,  they  did  any  legitimate  thing  they  could  to 
get  the  money.  The  pastor  will  never  forget 
the  noble,  earnest  work  done  by  the  ladies  to 
help,  in  the  time  of-mich  distress.         ■ 

The  Tierean  class  stood  by  the  movement  like 
a  stone  wall.  Many  of  the  boys  took  shares  in 
the  first  campaign,  but  they  voted  two  more 
shares  for  the  class,  and  the  admirable  thing 
about  it  was  that  they  paid  most  of  it  imme- 
diately. This  noble  class  has  stood  by  the  pas- 
tor all  of  the  time  as  he  has  undertaken  differ- 
ent things  for  the  advancement  of  the  cause. 

The  deacons  stood  by  the  pastor  in  this  move- 
ment. They  worked,  they  paid  all  they  could, 
and  supported  the  movement  to  a  man.  They 
meant  to  get  rid  of  the  debt  at  the  appointed 
time.  When  men  get  set  on  a  thing  like  this  it 
is  sure  to  come  to  pass. 

Many  of  our  merchants  worked  hard  to  get 
rid  of  the  debt.  Nearly  all  of  them  took  shares, 
or  helped  to  raise  the  money.     Ralph  Blanton 

63 


and  W.  P.  Gilliam  took  one  afternoon  off  and 
canvassed  to  wholesale  men  and  got  more  than 
two  shares. 

No  more  persistent  work  was  ever  done  by 
any  church  than  was  done  by  Loray  in  the  cam- 
paign for  the  liquidation  of  the  notes  against 
it.  The  most  thrilling  sight  in  the  whole  affair 
was  the  last  day  of  the  campaign  when  the  pas- 
tor had  asked  the  treasurer  to  stay  at  Brother 
Settlemyer's  store  from  one  o'clock  in  the  after- 
noon of  February  the  third  until  four  for  the 
purpose  of  receiving  the  amounts  due  on  the 
certificates.  More  than  eight  hundred  dollars 
were  still  due  on  them,  but  the  brethren  and 
sisters  came  forward  with  their  pledges  and  the 
amounts  they  had  raised,  which  were  more  than 
the  amount  of  the  debt.  Before  Brother  Grigg 
came  to  the  store,  several  were  there  awaiting 
his  arrival  so  that  they  might  keep  up  the  en- 
thusiasm of  the  campaign.  They  kept  coming 
all  of  the  afternoon  until  it  was  evident  that  we 
were  going  over  the  top  with  our  -collections. 
As  soon  as  the  pastor  saw  that  we  were  safe,  he 
had  the  treasurer  to  go  to  the  bank  and  get  the 
note.  When  the  note  was  safe  in  the  hands  of 
the  church,  he  went  to  the  church  and  put  out 
a  bulletin  board  that  had  on  it,  "Victory,  vic- 
tory, the  notes  are  going  to  be  burned  tomor- 
row." 

The  whole  town  seemed  to  rejoice  over  the 
victory  we  won.  No  more  heroic  thing  had  ever 
been  done  by  a  church  in  this  country.  Within 
four  weeks  over  two  thousand  dollars  had  been 
paid  into  the  treasury  of  the  church.  It  was 
done  by  the  hearty  cooperation  of  every  mem- 
ber of  the  church,  or  the  most  of  them.  If  any 
failed,  they  were  ashamed  to  confess  it. 

The  most  notable  day  we  have  ever  had  at 
Loray  was  the  first  Sunday  in  February.  This 
was  the  day  set  apart  for  the  burning  of  the 
notes.  All  preparation  had  been  made  for  the 
occasion.  Prof.  C.  P.  Gardner  had  written  a 
song  to  be  sung  if  we  raised  the  amount  due  on 
the  notes,  and  other  things  had  been  prepared 
for  this  occasion.  The  people  had  arranged  to 
be  with  us  to  see  that  the  work  was  well  done. 
The  only  thing  that  hindered  any  at  all  was 
rain.     It  was  a  real  dreary  day  but  this  did  not 

64 


keep  the  people  away  from  church.  An  enor- 
mous crowd  was  present  to  see  the  notes  go  up 
in  ashes.  The  three  highest  in  the  race  were 
the  Missionary  Society,  the  Intermediate  B.  Y. 
P.  U.  and  the  Berean  Class.  The  Missionary 
Society  collected  $382.95,  the  Intermediate 
B.  Y.  P.  U.  raised  $152.00,  and  the  Berean  Class 
gave  $100.00.  The  pastor  had  announced  that 
the  three  who  went  the  highest  in  this  cam- 
paign would  burn  the  notes.  The  above  three 
being  the  highest  had  the  pleasure  of  burning 
all  of  them.  Mrs.  D.  A.  Grigg  was  selected  by 
the  Missionary  Society  to  burn  the  note  assigned 
to  it;  Mrs.  Walter  Jolly,  the  leader  of  the  In- 
termediate B.  Y.  P.  U.,  was  selected  to  burn  the 
one  assigned  to  it,  and  Brother  S.  L.  Smith  was 
selected  by  the  Berean  Class  to  burn  the  one  as- 
signed to  it.  The  service  began  promptly  at 
eleven  o'clock.  Three  songs  were  sung  as  us- 
ual, then  the  pastor  asked  the  three  appointed 
to  burn  the  notes  to  come  to  the  platform.  So 
they  came  forward  at  once,  and  while  the  con- 
gregation sang  "Praise  God  from  Whom  All 
Blessings  Flow,"  the  matches  were  put  to  the 
notes  and  soon  they  went  up  in  ashes  never  to 
trouble  Loray  Baptist  church  any  more.  After 
the  notes  were  burned,  a  male  quartette  was 
sung  by  R.  F.  Littlejohn,  L.  J.  Waldrop,  W.  A. 
Martin  and  C.  P.  Gardner.  We  have  never 
heard  them  sing  better  in  our  lives.  They  had 
never  sung  the  song  before,  but  you  could  not 
tell  that  they  had  not.  They  opened  up  their 
souls  for  this  song  and  did  the  best  we  had  ever 
heard  them  do.  The  pastor  then  preached  a 
sermon  on  "The  Church  of  God."  The  Lord's 
Supper  was  observed  at  the  close  of  the  ser- 
vice. Hundreds  were  present  for  all  of  the  ser- 
vice, and  we  are  sure  will  never  forget  this  day. 

The  following  was  the  song  sung  by  the  male 
quartette : 

We  have  won  a  glorious  victory  for  Loray  Church: 
Everybody  gave  a  little,  didn't  hurt  them  much. 
Each  department  set  their  heads  to  reach  a  certain  goal, 
Paid  the  debt.     Let  Hallelujahs  roll. 

CHOEUS: 

Let  the  Hallelujahs  roll,  let  the  Hallelujahs  roll; 

65 


Oh !  the  debt  is  paid  in  full  and  we  have  reached  the  hap- 
py goal. 

Let  the  Hallelujahs  roll,,  let  the  Hallelujahs  roll ;         .       - , 

\7'c  11  forward  go  in  His  great  Name,  let  Hallelujahs  roll. 

People  said  we  couldn't  do  it,  but  we  did,  you  see; 

And  the  notes  are  burned  to  cinders  and  from  debt  we're 
free.      . 

And  we  thought  we  couldn't  do  it,  for  "to  save  our. soul; 

But  we  did ;  let  Hallelujahs  roll. 

.  The  following  are  those  who  took  shares  of 
stock  and  those  who  paid  on  the" debt: 

Intermediate  E.  Y.  P.  U,  _,.______$I52.00 

G.  P.  Ga-dner  _- 25,00; 

W.  P.  Gilliam 50.00 

Gilliam  &  Corn 50.00 

E.  C.  Torrenee ___-_ 50.00 

L.  J..;-Waldrop.-__- 50.00 

Joseph  L.  Alexander 50.00 

D.  W.  Blanton  &  Sons 60.00 

Berean  Class  ___: _.__- 100.00 

D.  A.  Grigg  ___. 50.00 

R.  F.  Little  John ___  50.00 

V.  M.  Sheppard 50.00 

Will  Long 50.00 

Lee  Corn  __: . 25.00 

Rev.  C.  J.  Black 51.00 

D.  V.  Vaughn  11 25,00. 

J.  Mack  Jenkins 25.00 

G.  H.  Moore 25.0.0 

J.  M.  Lynch  -____. ?5.00 

G.  TV  Settlemyer 50.00 

J.  C.  Smiths  _______ ;__>_  50.00 

J.  C.  Morton : 50,00 

G.  W.  Stockton  _-_.- 50.00 

John  E.  Davis  •_'_ 25,00 

Mrs.  M.  T.  Massagee 50.00 

M.  T.  Massagee ■  25.00 

D.  B.  Farnsworth 25.00 

Twisting  Department :_ i '_: 50.00 

Weaving  Department 50.00 

Mrs,  J.  J.  Lynn 2.50 

Anabel  McFadden .1 ■_■_■ 25.00 

Willing;  Workers  Class 1.16 

E.  W.  Hicks  _____ 1.00 

Mrs,  S,  A.  Waldrop .25 

Rossie  Crook 4.15 

W.  M.  Ledford 16.00 

W.  H.  Dilling 25.00 

r  j 


S2ction  "A,"  B.  Y.  P.  U. 50.00 

Women's  Missionary  Society 76.00 

Circle  No.   1 . 90.75 

Circle  No.  2 56.25 

Circle  No.  3 67.50 

Circle  No.  4 25.00 

Circle  No.  5 17.20 

Circle  No.  6 50.25 

Jacob  L.  Alexander 50.00 

R.  C.  Blanton 50.00 

R.  F.  Norman 32.75 

Barbee    &    Parker 50.00 

J.  A.  Gordon 5.00 

E.  L.  Quinn 50.00 

Bradshaw  &  Fisher 50.00 

M.  H.  McLendon 50.00 

J.  V.  Green 50.00 

Spinning  Department 15.00 

There  was  $13.20  unaccounted  for  in  this  col- 
lection. We  wish  that  we  might  be  able  to  give 
the  name  of  the  contributor  in  this  account,  but 
we  cannot. 

The  collection  amounted  to  $2,304.08;  the 
notes,  interest  and  all  amounted  to  $2,062,80. 
Subtracting  this  from  the  amount  raised  we 
have  $241.28  left. 


67 


THE   CHURCH'S  OPPORTUNITY 

We  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  church  in 
North  Carolina  that  has  a  greater  opportunity 
than  Loray.  Several  things  make  this  state- 
ment true.  In  the  first  place  she  has  more  peo- 
ple to  handle  than  any  church  we  know  of  un- 
less it  is  Kannapolis,  and  we  do  not  believe  that 
this  one  had  more  than  two  thirds  as  many  as 
we  have.  We  have  about  ten  thousand  people 
in  our  section  of  the  city  with  no  Baptist  church 
to  look  after  them  but  Loray.  About  eighty 
per  cent  of  this  population  is  Baptist.  True, 
many  of  them  do  not  belong  to  Loray,  and  some 
of  them  do  not  belong  to  a  Baptist  church  any- 
where, but  they  are  Baptist  inclined.  If  they 
were  to  join  anywhere,  they  would  join  Loray. 
Many  of  them  attend  Sunday  school  and  church 
at  Loray.  When  they  need  a  preacher,  they 
always  call  on  the  pastor  of  Loray  church.  Now, 
with  this  enormous  population  and  the  senti- 
ment we  have  to  back  our  work,  can  you  not 
see  the  wonderful  opportunity  we  have  as  a 
church  ?  But  this  is  not  all ;  we  have  seven 
other  mills  to  draw  from  besides  the  Loray,  and 
the  Loray  is  moving  their  New  England  mills 
here  just  as  fast  as  they  can.  They  have  built 
four  stories  to  the  west  end  of  the  large  build- 
ing, and  we  understand  that  they  are  going  to 
add  two  more  as  soon  as  weather  conditions 
will  permit.  This  will  require  many  more  hands, 
and  then  when  they  build  fc  greater  works, 
what  will  our  church  have  to  do  ?  We  have  a 
large  building  now,  but  what  will  it  take  when 
we  get  fifteen,  or  possibly  twenty  thousand  peo- 
ple here  ?  We  are  going  to  have  the  most  won- 
derful chance  any  church  has  ever  had.  We 
hope  to  be  able  to  take  care  of  whatever  we 
have  to  contend  with,  and  if  we  have  twenty 
thousand  people  about  us,  we  want  at  least 
two  thousand  members  in  our  church.  Let  us 
awake  to  the  situation  and  get  ready  for  any 
emergency. 

The  second  thing  we  wish  to  mention  in  the 
way  of  an  unparallelled  opportunity  is  the  won- 
derful sympathy  we  have.  Nearly  all  of  the 
mills  are  in  perfect  harmony  with  us,  and  espe- 
cially is  this  true  on  the  part  of  the  Loray.  Ever 
since  the  present  pastor  has  been  on  the  field, 

68 


this  mill  company  has  been  doing  all  it  could  to 
help  him  put  the  task  over.  They  have  built 
additions  for  him,  they  have  spoken  encourag- 
ing things  to  him,  they  have  given  him  money 
to  build  with,  and  they  have  furnished  material 
for  the  different  things  he  has  had  to  build. 
They  have  enabled  him  to  do  many  things  he 
could  not  have  done  but  for  their  support.  Mr. 
J.  H.  Separk,  who  has  large  interests  in  the 
Parkdale,  Gray  and  the  Arlington,  Mr.  Dixon, 
of  the  Trenton,  Mr.  Clyde  Armstrong,  who  has 
interest  in  the  Mutual,  and  others  have  done 
niuch  toward  helping  to  make  the  church  a  suc- 
cess. We  have  the  good  will  of  all  of  the  best 
folks  in  Gastonia.  Loray  is  almost  solid  for  us, 
and  the  country  round  about  us  is  favorable  to 
our  work.  We  see  no  reason  why  we  cannot 
make  a  success  of  this  work  since  we  have  this 
wonderful  opportunity. 

Another  thing  that  gives  us  a  most  wonder- 
ful opportunity  is  the  force  we  have  to  work 
with.  We  have  numbers  of  fine,  energetic 
young  folks  who  are  willing  to  do  anything  they 
can  to  make  the  work  a  success.  We  are  now 
giving  lectures  on  the  Sunday  School  Normal 
Manual  at  our  Wednesday  evening  services. 
These  lectures  are  being  attended  by  many  of 
our  young  people.  We  have  a  Bible  Class  on 
Thursday  evenings,  This  is  largely  attended 
by  our  young  folks.  This  shows  us  that  they 
are  very  much  interested.  We  have  prayer 
meetings  and  other  young  people's  meetings  ev- 
ery week.  All  of  these  are  well  attended.  With 
a  force  ready  for  work  like  we  have  there  is  no 
telling  what  we  may  be  able  to  accomplish  in 
the  future. 

With  the  largest  membership  in  the  Gaston 
County  Baptist  Association,  with  the  largest 
Sunday  school  in  the  State,  with  the  most  wide- 
awake B.  Y.  P.  U.  and  one  of  the  best  W.  M.  S., 
we  feel  that  nothing  but  victory  can  await  us. 
All  we  need  to  do  to  make  this  the  most  won- 
derful church  in  the  South  is  for  us  to  keep 
humble  and  so  submit  ourselves  to  the  Lord  that 
he  nay  lead  us.  With  the  opportunity  we  have 
and  the  Master  opening  up  greater  day  by  day, 
what  ought  we  to  do  ?  Let  God  our  Father 
answer  this  question  by  leading  us  to  do  all  that 
he  would  have  us  to  undertake. 

69 


A  FINAL  WORD 

We  have  done  what  we  could  to  give  a  brief 
account  of  the  many  things  Loray  Baptist 
church  has  done  for  the  past  seventeen  years, 
but  we  know  many  things  have  been  over- 
looked, and  many  have  not  been  related  to  us 
so  that  we  could  write  them  in  this  short  story, 
but  we  have  done  the  very  best  we  could  with 
what  we  had  to  work  from.  We  send  this  little 
book  forth  hoping  that  it  may  inspire  others 
who  follow  us  to  do  something  much  greater. 
We  have  not  done  all  that  can  be  done,  but 
we  have  made  an  honest  beginning.  We  have 
tried  to  lay  the  foundation  for  something  worth 
while.  Loray  is  a  worthy  church  with  a  splen- 
did record,  and  now  since  this  little  story  has 
been  written,  we  hope  that  every  member  may 
feel  that  he,  or  she,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  indi- 
vidually responsible  for  the  future  of  this 
church.  Let  us  all  work  like  we  were  expect- 
ing the  Master  to  come  any  day.  Let  us  hold 
fast  the  faith  delivered  to  the  saints  of  old.  Let 
us  not  deviate  one  inch  from  the  Old  Land- 
marks of  the  Fathers,  but  let  us  stand  to  the 
doctrines  of  the  New  Testament  to  the  finish. 
If  heresies  come,  let  us  not  be  moved  by  them, 
but  let  us  hold  fast  a  good  profession  in  the 
midst  of  all  kinds  of  doctrines.  The  time  has 
come  when  people  will  not  endure  sound  doc- 
trine, but  let  us  not  be  so  conformed  to  this 
world  that  we  cannot  stand  for  the  true  and 
right  thing,  but  let  us  earnestly  contend  for 
that  which  is  right.  Loray  Baptist  church  stands 
for  a  regenerated  church  membership,  believers 
baptism,  immersion  for  baptism,  restricted  com- 
munion, New  Testament  evangelism,  the  whole 
gospel  for  the  whole  world,  old  time  New  Tes- 
tament fellowship,  an  open  Bible  for  all  of  the 
people,  and  a  helping  hand  for  the  poor  and 
needy.  These  things  are  the  teachings  of  the 
New  Testament  if  we  understand  what  it  means 
to  teach.  We  do  not  want  to  go  beyond  what 
it  teaches.  If  any  one  reading  these  lines  de- 
sires to  join  in  with  a  bunch  of  New  Testa- 
ment Christians  who  stand  for  the  things  men- 
tioned above,  Loray  has  a  place  for  you.  We 
have  a  helping  hand  for  you  if  you  wish  to  do 

70 


what  the  Lord  commands,  but  we  do  not  have 
fellowship  for  any  one  who  tries  to  get  rid  of 
the  plain  teachings  of  our  Lord  and  Master. 


You've  read  the  third   of   Matthew,  go   read   it  through 

again ; 
You'll  find  not  one  baptized,  but  did  repentance  bring; 
If  you  believe  in  Jesus,  then  be  immersed  like  him, 
As  long  as  you  neglect  it,  it  is  to  you  a  sin. 

Philip  was  a  preacher,  as  we  do  understand, 
He  join'd  the  eunuch's  chariot,  it  was  the   Lord's  com- 
mand, 
Opened  to  him  the  Scriptures,  the  eunuch  did  believe, 
Straitway  he  was  baptized,  as  we  do  plainly  read. 

This  ordinance  of  Jesus  will  stand  forever  strong, 
There's  none  can  turn  it,  tho'  they've  endeavor'd  long, 
When  the  antichristian  powers  will  sink  forevermore. 
For  Jesus  and  his  kingdom  will  stand  forever  sure, 


[Since  going  to  press  with  this  little  book,  we  have 
had  the  last  dollar  pledged  in  the  church  debt  campaign 
arranged  for.  When  we  printed  the  list,  but  fifteen  dol- 
lars had  been  paid  by  the  Spinning  Department  of  the 
Loray  Mills.  Since  then  the  remainder  of  the  share  this 
room  took  has  been  taken  up.  We  are  glad  we  can  say 
that   every   cent   pledged   was   paid.] 


71 


